ANDY Cooke, whose distinguished career as Market Drayton’s prominent player in the professional game, is poised to start again where it began – Greenfields – tomorrow afternoon.
In the opinion of Town manager Jimmy Mullen, former Market Drayton Tiger Cooke, who recently joined the club as director of football, is ready to start against Brigg Town in the Evo-Stik League South.
Mullen, who gave Cooke his break in the big time while managing Burnley, said: “He was on the bench in the 1-1 at Goole on Saturday and what I saw from him in training on Tuesday convinced me he’ll be right to start against Brigg Town on Saturday.
“You cannot ignore the quality a fit Andy Cooke can bring to your side,” he added.
Despite many years working the Tigers age-groups, Cooke has never played for Town. And when he joined Drayton last month, he was dubious about getting fit enough for a pre-Christmas debut.
But Mullen believes his prodigies sheer professionalism has put him firmly in the frame for first team duty. “He has applied himself fantastically well in training,” he said.
“He’s worked very, very hard on his fitness and shown what a true pro his is.
“I know he’s champing at the bit, it’s now a question of deciding when is the right time for him.
“There’ll be no final decision until we talked after Thursday training but right now, I am of the opinion that time is Saturday.”
Mullen could have the luxury of a full squad to choose from. Luke Reynolds, Andy Hartlebury, Grant Goodhead and Marc Stallard, all missing at Goole through injury or work commitments, are expected to be available.
Town fans could be forgiven for having very mixed feelings when they welcome Brigg. On the one hand, the visitors have just given Town what could be a priceless pre-season Christmas present by boosting their battle against relegation.
In the space of four days, on Saturday and then Tuesday, Brigg Town completed a double over the league’s backmarkers, Quorn, pushing them closer to the drop and giving Drayton a lot more breathing space.
But the downside is that Brigg’s clear-cut superiority, by 3-1 at Quorn on Saturday and then 5-1 at home in the return, demonstrates they also pose a very real danger for a Drayton team who, despite battling through, did not do well Goole.
Mullen described it as a terrible game all round, his men having the proverbial bad day at the office, with the long journey, a poor pitch and depleted squad all contributing to a generally disappointing day.
But Mullen takes consolation from the the thought that, allowing for all that, Town still got a point.
“I felt we let our standards slip but perhaps that’s a reflection of how much we have improved,” he said.
“We can now go to places like Goole with very real expectations of winning.
“That said, I was left with a nagging sense of disappointment. I felt we were good enough to win, yet we had to thank a very late goal for getting a draw.”
That goal came in the last minute and wasn’t even scored by a Drayton player.
Dorryl Proffitt seemed to have wasted his good break when, instead of finding Tom Rogers in the clear, his attempted pass was deflected by a defender for a corner. Stuart Ellis took it, Matt Cohen headed on and with Goole in a panic, Simon Sturdy diverted the ball into his own net.
The confusion didn’t end there. Initially the ref indicated that the ball hadn’t crossed the line – but thankfully for Drayton, he ruled otherwise after consulting with his linesman.
Goole’s goal, from Mathew Stirland on the hour, was equally scrappy.
It all started when Drayton skipper Paul McMullen almost scored from a corner. Six yards out, with the ball at he feet, he just couldn’t connect.
The ball was hoofed clear and Goole were able to gallop off and score with Stirland rifling home their first real shot on goal.
By Terry Morris