On a cold and very wet day Cotgrave produced a quality performance against Gedling Southbank, one of their fellow contenders for promotion from the second division.

From the kick-off both teams displayed their determination to win and put a lot of pressure on whoever had the ball. The Cotgrave defence of Ben Halcro, Harry Normington, Thomas Staples and Elliott Coulthard-Gaunt sat deep to provide cover for the team in the wet conditions, this gave the midfield some space to play football and in a superb seven minute spell Cotgrave effectively finished the match as a contest.

On six minutes Aidan Sheppard fed the ball through to Jordan Cumberland, Cumberland’ s shot was parried by the keeper and Luke Black was on hand to open the scoring. After a further four minutes Max Robertson took the ball down the left and cut inside, his shot was also saved by the keeper. This time the rebound fell to Kit Weir who finished from close range. Two minutes later Robertson again burst down the left and made no mistake with a shot into the far corner of the net. Then, with the match only thirteen minutes old, Cumberland went through the middle to finish neatly past the keeper and give Cotgrave a four goal lead.

Cotgrave continued to dominate the half. Matthew Hodgett was introduced at right back, James Staples attempted a spectacular over-head kick, and in the nineteenth minute Lewis Hopkinson hit a cross which the Gedling keeper was unfortunate to see go through his hands in the wet conditions and into the net. Then, with three minutes of the half remaining, Cumberland received the ball on the edge of the area, turned and hit an excellent shot into the bottom corner of the net to give Cotgrave a six goal lead.

Gedling started the second-half determined to salvage some pride and forced Cotgrave back towards their goal. But with Normington playing well as sweeper and Coulthard-Gaunt, Halcro and Sheppard winning ball after ball there few opportunities for Gedling. When the ball did get through to Nathan Burgin he demonstrated good handling skills in the wet conditions.

As the half progressed, Cotgrave slowly re-established themselves with some good passing, particularly on the right where Thomas Staples stood out. On forty-five minutes a Hopkinson cross was finished at the far post by Robertson for his second of the game. However, despite the introduction of Kris McCann on the right side of midfield, Cotgrave could not add to their goals. Then, with almost the last kick of the match, Gedling broke away and scored with a well placed shot from the edge of the area that gave Burgin no chance.

A good result and an excellent performance from Cotgrave.

Man of the Match - Aidan Sheppard