Weston Bears stunned by Cooks Hill stoppage-time winner

The Bears had seemingly been cruising to victory, but within a matter of minutes Cooks Hill had sealed an upset 2-1 victory.

Cooks Hill won the first corner of the match in the 10th minute, and a high outswinging delivery had Bears keeper Gerard Roebuck in a brief spot of bother as he came out to punch the ball away, but the visiting attackers were unable to capitalise on the half-chance.

Aaron Niyonkuru advanced ominously towards goal in the 15th minute, his strike drawing a sharp save from Daniel Eisenhauer; though the Bears earnt a corner as a result, it amounted to little.

Niyonkuru went closer in the 23rd minute, collecting a Paul Sichalwe pass, dropping the shoulder to shake off the attentions of his marker and shaping in a lovely curling strike from the edge of the box that beat Eisenhauer but crashed against the right post.

A 28th minute low cross from Jye Bailey saw first Connor Evans, then Niyonkuru do their best to apply the crucial touch around the edge of the six yard box, but both attempts were blocked by desperation covering defence.

A minute later, Bailey had a go from 30 yards and his effort whistled just wide of the right post.

Niyonkuru let another one go in the 33rd minute from 20 yards, but his wormburner was comfortably saved by Eisenhauer.

Blake Archbold was next, as a loose ball sat up nicely in the 34th minute for him to crack a low half volley from the edge of the box, but the curling strike was tipped around the right post by Eisenhauer for a corner.

The Bears were knocking at the door consistently but to this point seemed unable to find the decisive breakthrough.

After just 45 seconds of stoppage time - a reflection of the relatively few events of significance to have taken place thus far - half time came around with the game remaining deadlocked at 0-0 and one could sense a slight frustration within the Bears camp at the fact that they had yet to claim a scoreboard advantage.

Just 44 seconds after the resumption of play, though, Alexander Hilton hauled down Chris Hatfield in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Hatfield made no mistake, converting to finally hand the Bears a deserved lead. The reaction from the home faithful seemed one of relief more than anything.

A robust challenge from Niyonkuru in the 51st minute saw him cautioned, though he nearly made up for it five minutes later, getting himself into an excellent position and drawing a close range 56th minute stop from Eisenhauer to earn a corner after a clever piece of Archbold brothers passing had unlocked the opportunity.

A low drive from 35 yards off the boot of Matthew Berrigan had Roebuck at full stretch to keep his clean sheet intact in the 72nd minute.

At the other end, substitute Tommy Duggan looked home and hosed in the 74th minute, burning the Cooks Hill defence with pace and closing in on Eisenhauer only to lose his footing at the crucial juncture and deny himself what was a near certain goal.

A 77th minute counter attack for the visitors saw Berrigan cleverly dink the ball just out of Roebuck's reach and draw a foul inside the box.

Though Roebuck dived the right way, Berrigan's penalty was well placed and found the back of the net. Suddenly, having barely threatened the Weston goal all match, United had an equaliser and the Bears would need to turn up the heat to claim the three points.

They very nearly did just that, as substitute Cooper Sargent surged forward and blazed an acute angled attempt just over the bar 17 seconds after the restart.

The Bears were pouring forward in numbers now, and were perhaps living to regret the tepid tempo of the middle fifteen to twenty minutes of the second half.

Duggan had another gilt-edged opportunity in the 86th minute, collecting the ball in space 12 yards out but firing his attempt into the side netting.

Niyonkuru was the next to try his hand at grabbing a late winner, but his 87th minute curler from the edge of the box was high, wide and not particularly handsome.

Duggan earnt a corner in the 88th, which Niyonkuru delivered tantalisingly into the mixer; it was Duggan once again on the end of the delivery, but his header was too straight at Eisenhauer for the scorers to be troubled.

The Bears' worst nightmares came true in the first minute of stoppage time, as a counter attack saw Berrigan turn the ball home from close range for his brace and his side's second, with the visitors taking the lead right at the death having barely seen the ball in the hosts' final third.

It was scarcely comprehensible for the home supporters, who were in a state of disbelief at the developments.

Things would go from bad to worse in the 93rd minute, as a last man challenge from Angelo Calfo saw him take the man and not the ball, with the referee wasting no time in issuing him with a straight red card - his second dismissal of the campaign.

After just under five minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the full time whistle with the scoreboard reading a barely believable 2-1 to Cooks Hill.

A shell-shocked Bears outfit had now gone from hoping to see out what appeared to be a relatively routine win, to licking their wounds over a surprise defeat and a suspension to deal with.

A third straight home game awaits next Sunday afternoon as Edgeworth come to town, with the Bears knowing anything less than three points could have disastrous implications on their finals aspirations in 2024.