MIDDLESEX UNDER 18 TEAM TRAVELS TO COGENHOE

Jim Taylor

Our Under 18 players complete their South East Counties Youth Championship Group A programme on Sunday next, when they travel to Cogenhoe United FC to play their Northamptonshire FA counterparts.

A draw in this game will qualify us for the final against Sussex, who with a match remaining, have already won the 5 team Group B. Sussex Under 18s have been in fine form this season. This weekend they reached the FA County Youth Cup final against Norfolk, by travelling to Newton Abbot and beating the very good Devon team 1-0.

Next Sunday’s game is our third in this season’s South East Counties competition. We have so far recorded convincing wins against the Amateur Football Alliance (5-2 away) and Bedfordshire (5-0 at home).

This is Northamptonshire’s first season in the South East Counties Championship. However, we have played them in the FA County Youth Cup in recent years. The last occasion was in Round 2 in season 2016-17, when we won 3-0 at Cogenhoe, with goals from Alex Hadjithemistou, Malachy McGovern and Nebay Haile. That season we went on to beat Cornwall in the final.

Our meeting previous to that was in Round 1, in the 2013-14 season, also at Cogenhoe, when we won 2-1. Our scorers that day were Jack Smith and Prince Mbengui.

Manager, John Fletcher has selected the following squad:

Albi Balaj (Hanwell Town)

Bryant Okono-Bilongo (Hanworth Villa)

Declan Skura (Hanworth Villa)

Harry Cawdron (Hanworth Villa)

Kahlil Francis (Edgware Town)

Hassan Habimana (Hanworth Villa)

Michael Koscien (Edgware Town)

Teo Kurtaran (Hanworth Villa)

Ryan Morgan (Wealdstone)

Connor Manning (Hanworth Villa)

Eric Negraru (Uxbridge)