Yaxley’s first team proved triumphant in the Bank Holiday Monday Hunts Senior Cup final.

Club President “Sir” Jeff Lenton takes up the story.

Huntingdonshire FA Senior Cup Final

St Ives Town 1 Yaxley 1 (aet) Yaxley won 5-4 on penalties

Monday, 05 May 2008
Holders St Ives saw the cup slip from their grasp in a dramatic penalty shootout. In the same competition last season, it was St. Ives who won the semi-final against the Cuckoos, ironically enough on penalties.

Both teams created chances and Sam Makansi could have stolen an early lead in the first 10 minutes had he taken a risk and hit the ball first time when he was one-on-one with the Saints ‘keeper. In the heat it was wearing for both teams but the Saints made the breakthrough in the dying seconds of the first half when Jason King won a corner and Liam Kennett’s kick was headed in by Will Fordham.

Yaxley replied four minutes into the second half when Ricky Hailstone’s cross field pass played in Sam Makansi to delicately chip Rob Mackney. Makansi, who had scored the critical added time equalizer against Hampton in the semi final, had to be substituted 10 minutes later with a groin strain and was replaced by Mark Paul.

In the 85th minute, Cuckoos defender Josh Crick (who was recovering from a 3 inch gash in his forehead received in last weeks U18 cup final) was replaced by Scott Bogusz.

Elio Salerno came on for Dan Fountain and immediately made a couple of penetrating runs down the right flank but to no avail. Both sides had opportunities to win the contest in the second period of extra time. The holders were closest when Dan Newman’s effort from distance rebounded to safety off the Yaxley crossbar whilst at the opposite end, Mark Paul’s earlier jinking run down the left didn’t finish with any power and comfortably bobbled into the ‘keepers arms.

At the end of extra time, both teams were just about dead on their feet after 120 minutes of competitive but not particularly pretty football.

In the penalty contest, Yaxley duo Teddy Rimmell and Scott Bogusz successfully converted as did St Ives skipper Will Fordham. But Jason King’s miss from the second Saints kick handed the Cuckoos the initiative and Chris Gospel scored for Yaxley along with Carl Foreman for St Ives before Ricky Hailstone’s uncharacteristic penalty miss enabled Liam Kennett to level for the Saints.

The pressure was on for the last of the regulation five kicks. Mark Paul shot wide for Yaxley giving Jamie Blackwell the chance to become the St Ives match winner, but his kick was superbly saved by John Feetham in the Yaxley goal.

Elio Salerno and Dan Pilsworth kept their nerve to make it four apiece before Lee Blewett smashed the seventh Yaxley kick against the Bar. Feetham again kept his side in the hunt with another excellent save from Dan Newman.

Ben Russell fired the Cuckoos in front and it was then that Feetham became the Yaxley hero with his 3rd and match winning save from Barry Albone.

Congratulations to Clippo and his lads and commiserations to St. Ives.

Dont forget to follow the first team in their remaining two (but hopefully three) cup matches this season.

First up is the Hunts FA Premier Cup semi final with Biggleswade United at the Drove before the May bank holiday Monday sees the lads in Hunts Senior FA Cup final action against St Ives Town at Huntingdon Town’s Jubilee Park.

This site is off on its summer holidays now so please… click here… to be directed to the main club website for more on those big matches.

Cheers!

So the season is all but over and another campaign has ended with success across the piste for the football club.

“Cuckoos Comment” and its contributors would like to congratulate the various teams at all ages within the club for their performances and results during the season and hope that it continues for many years to come.

The close season will see more hard work going on behind the scenes to further develop the club off the park and I know that come August when we start all over again we will see Leading Drove further developed and more progress made.

The club is solely run by volunteers and as well as congratulating the host of players and managers in the paragraphs above, I am sure I speak for all paying Cuckoos fans when I thank them for keeping the club on the straight and narrow for another season.

Not all football clubs are based on money and greed and I would like to think that Yaxley FC is one based on community and development. I can’t wait to see the first Cuckoos old boy playing in the Premiership in the years to come, and we should never forget the part our club played in getting names like Nick Conroy, Lee Clarke and Michael Frew ready for playing at a higher level.

The UCL, despite being in the 8th tier of the English game is going the same way as many leagues above it with stupid money being lavished on players and small crowds coming through the gate not supplying the income to pay them. Thus clubs are reliant on benefactors to keep them going.

Whilst I wouldn’t want our club to tell a millionaire knocking on the door that he wasn’t welcome(!!) I wouldn’t expect the principles we have adopted in the latter stages of this season to be forgotten.

You can but hope eh?!!

Nothing else remains but to say see you next season and please try and bring a friend or 10 along when you next come to a game…!

Up the Cuckoos

Gary Clipston’s Cuckoos side ended their season with a home defeat to Tony Lowther’s Blackstones side at Leading Drove last night.

Ex Yaxley forward Ashley Stevens opened the scoring early on. Here is the match report from Football Mitoo

Premier Division

Yaxley 0    Blackstones 4

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Blackstones stepped up their bid for second place with an emphatic derby success at Leading Drove.

Stones built a winning lead in the opening quarter of the match. Ashley Stevens gave them a fifth minute advantage with Ross Watson netting a second seven minutes later.

Dan Cotton added a 20th minute third to all but settle the outcome and Richard Challinor completed the scoring seven minutes from time.

My mate Tim will love it… an ex Stamford legend slays the Cuckoos :0(

Match report from club President Jeff Lenton..

Eagle Bitter United Counties League - Premier Division

Yaxley 0 Cogenhoe United 1

Saturday, 12 April 2008
The Cuckoos’ run of improved form ended with this reverse against their mid table visitors but they will be all out to take the points in tomorrow nights (Tuesday) crunch local derby against Blackstones .

Yaxley didn’t manage to take their opportunities in a first half which saw them pose a threat from set pieces. Josh Crick headed wide after Chris Gospel won Dan Fountain’s free kick at the far post, and then Anthony Thomas was off target from a Ricky Hailstone corner.

Cogenhoe goalkeeper Darren Watts tipped over a long range effort from Fountain and the keeper was again in action to thwart Sam Makansi with Matt Parrott firing wide of the target as the ball came loose.

The second half saw the Cooks take more control. Dan Thomason was wide with a cross shot early in the half before Cogenhoe made the breakthrough after 64 minutes. Rob Foster’s shot from an acute angle was cleared off the line by Parrott, but Malcolm Ndekwe followed up to score off the underside of the crossbar.

Cuckoos defender Thomas was in the thick of the action, blocking a Nick Ashby header on the line, while in stoppage time he fouled Foster in the box. Foster took the spot kick himself but was denied by a fine save by John Feetham, with a goal line clearance denying Ndekwe a second from the follow up.

On balance, the Cuckoos at least deserved to share the honours on the day.
Yaxley: John Feetham, Ben Russell (Danny Steward), Hamish Curtis (Mario Palazzo), Matt Parrott, Anthony Thomas, Chris Gospel, Josh Crick (Jonathan Griggs), Teddy Rimmell, Sam Makansi, Ricky Hailstone, Dan Fountain.

Cogenhoe: Darren Watts, Lewis Kelly, Jack Ashton, Nick Ashby, Dan Thomason, Lee Gotch, Nick Kingston, Neil Champelovier, Dan Holman (Zac Nedimovic), Rob Foster, Malcolm Ndekwe.

TOMORROW NIGHT (Tuesday) sees a double header at Leading Drove as the Cuckoos U18 string take on Stamford Youth AFC - 6pm KO followed by the Blackstones local derby at 7:45pm

Two our of form sides met in front of a sparse Leading Drove crowd in this UCL encounter last night.

The home side coming out on top with goals from Sam Makansi and Dan Fountain in the second half. It was the Cuckoos first league win in 12 and Wellingborough’s 6th successive 0 pointer.

As the season draws to a close, Cuckoos fans will be looking towards a nice summer break and re-grouping for the next campaign.

Just a quick heads up to let you know that the YFC team page has been updated with some classic writing from the clubs history archives.

Enjoy !

Yaxley completed an unlikely double of scoreless draws with two of the top placed UCL clubs this week.

Having ensured their UCL Prem status on Tuesday at local rivals Deeping, it was a trip over to Northamptonshire for the match with Desborough Town.

And despite the home side hitting the crossbar, match reports and people who were at the match say that Yaxley were well in it from first whistle to last.

Well done Clippo and the lads.

“The kids are alright”

If it was a deliberate policy shift by Yaxley FC this season to go for enthusiastic youth over proven experience then it was inspired. If it was as a result of more realistic budgetary needs then it was still inspired!!!

Either way I had more satisfaction and pleasure watching the Young Guns scrapping for a point at reigning league champions Deeping than many a night of my three decades of watching this football club (and I include the not too distant past of steamrollering lesser sides in that).

Something is stirring in this furthest most outcrop of Huntingdonshire, and it is worth watching. As the President mentions in the posting below, football has gone mad and lost its soul, even at this eighth tier, and money and greed has replaced loyalty and cameraderie.

If half of the rumoured salaries and benefits offered to UCL players this season were to be true then we would have a problem. I suspect it could be more, so we have a big problem.

But somehow, amongst the three figured weekly salaries for essentially amateur footballers, Clippo and Seb have been forging a side together full of heart and endeavour. And whilst they have a long way to go in their development, I hope in years to come we can look back on this as a night when they started to come of age.

The good thing is that there is still that smattering of experienced players, who have seen and done it all in the UCL, and I hope that they will stick around to pass on the trade to the new breed.

It is hard to pick out individuals, but fans favourite Anthony “Patrick” Thomas never fails to impress. The little and large front two of Sam Makansi and Josh Crick put an experienced defensive unit to the test, and defensively the Cuckoos were solid.

I came away from Outgang Road with hope for the future. Of course some of the players will be destined to leave us for bigger and better things. So we should enjoy their skills whilst we can and hope that the club stays true to its philosophy of developing local youth and giving them the tools to go a long way in the game. Hopefully with YFC.

United Counties League - Premier Division

Deeping Rangers 0 Yaxley 0

Tuesday, 01 April 2008
Outgoing champions Deepings hopes of a top six finish to the current campaign suffered a major setback and the Cuckoos sealed their Premier Division status thanks to a goalless draw. The Cuckoos put in an excellent team performance that will do much to help restore the support from the local fans. Yaxley started with no fewer than 5 changes to last Saturday’s starting eleven.

Without doubt, man of the match for the Cuckoos was “Pocket Rocket” Sam Makansi whose pace, skill and overall work rate was outstanding and a credit to him. Playing alongside him was fellow U18’s player Josh Crick, whose height, physical presence and determination caused the home defence more than a few problems while Dan Jacobs showed that he is settling in to the Cuckoos line-up, with some excellent link-up play through midfield and penetrating runs down the left side.

Cuckoos’ keeper John Feetham was in confident form as were the back four, marshalled by Matt Parrott. It was refreshing to see Ben Russell, Anthony Thomas an David Blake all putting their foot through the ball and not messing about in front of goal, gifting chances to the opposition.

Skipper Ricky Hailstone returned to duty following suspension and motivated his team throughout the game and Lee Blewett put in another positive performance alongside Teddy Rimmell. Jonathan Griggs came on late in the second half and as gainst Long Buckby last Saturday, showed that he has the makings of a first team player.

The Cuckoos took good advantage of the back wind in the first half, frequently forcing the Rangers defence onto the back foot, and with shots and headers going either just going wide or calling the home ‘keeper into serious action, the Cuckoos could have taken a first half lead.

In the second half, Deeping had the benefit of the wind but only came anywhere close to scoring on a few occasions. At the other end, Yaxley penetrated down the flanks and created several goal scoring opportunities but just couldn’t quite convert them.  At the end of the day, a draw was a fair result and a valuable point to ensure that the Cuckoos need have no relegation concerns.

Cuckoo’s fans will be eager to see if the youngsters that have this season come up through the youth and reserve team squads will be loyal to their club or be lured away by bigger budgets elsewhere. The money flying around the league this season has done little to improve the standard and much to disrupt the continuity and personal commitment of those players who have yet to understand the value of “club loyalty”. Yaxley’s commitment to bringing local youngsters on through the ranks remains a firm policy and trusts that the local players, supporters and sponsors will recognise this as a recipe for success - certainly last nights performance provided the evidence that it can work.

On Saturday, Yaxley travel to 3rd placed Desborough Town who have only been beaten 4 times in the league this season - it’s going to be a tough one but spirits and confidence are up so COME ON YOU CUCKOOS !  The Reserve team entertain Desboroughs’ second string at Leading Drove - 3pm KO.