After recording a 5-3 victory away on Sunday and that after defeating both relegated sides from last term, E&K S1 surprisingly sit top of Division two just 3 games in and 3 points clear as things stand. Cooke gave us his thoughts on what he describes as a dream start.

''With the season well and truly under way, I want to reflect on our opening 3 games'', Cooke said.

''After a very difficult run of games during Pre-season, everyone within the squad was eager to get going in the league and show everyone in our league what we feel, we're capable of. There's been a number of new faces join and I decided that 15 in our squad would suit as I didn't want guys being on the bench regularly or even not involved at all. For this to work, I knew we needed guys who I can rely on week after week and players who can play in several positions. I think we've got exactly that this season as I could pull any 11 names out of a hat and be sure that I can juggle positions around and come up with a very competitive starting line up.''

Cooke continued, ''In our 1st match against a team who were relegated last season in Barflys H2O, we took the game to them from the 1st whistle and completely dominated. The end result of 5-2 didn't flatter us in anyway, as we thoroughly deserved the win. A great start to the season which was important as a bad start can take a lot of shaking off and with Barflys coming down a division, we didn't know anything about them or how good they were. This set the tone for the upcoming game away at half Moon.''

''In our 2nd game against Half Moon who had come down from the Premier Section also, I made several changes as I didn't want to leave guys on the bench for 2 weeks running, as I feel it's important that everyone gets game time with such a small squad. With the quality players I have at my disposal, I don't have any worries about changes supposedly weakening the team and it proved right, with us racing into a 3-0 lead. However, we knew they would come back strong, which they did... scoring 2 goals and making us work as hard as I can ever remember us having to, to ensure we secured the win. I stressed to the players what a big win that was at full time as I'm sure when Half Moon really get there season going, there's very few teams going to take points from them, so it was a very pleasing result.''

''In our latest game against Carlton Top Spot Res, we knew what to expect as we've had some real tussles with them in the past and this was no different. Although I only had 11 players available, I knew we would be good enough to cause problems, and although we went behind for the 1st time this season, there was no real need to panic. I felt we had a poor first half by our standards, and thankfully the players responded and we upped our game hugely in the 2nd half and showed a great fighting spirit to eventually run out 5-3 winners.''

Cooke finished with his overall thoughts, ''So after 3 games we have had the 'dream start' and sit proudly at the top of the league and although there's a very long way to go of course, and many teams capable of beating anyone in our league, it's very satisfying to be in our position, with the squad we have which is really playing for each other, everyone is encouraging each other and goals are flying in from all over the pitch, not just from the strikers which is always a great sign. The new guys have settled in well and things couldn't be better at the moment, although we know we have to perform every week as there's no easy opponents and things could soon turn around if we let our standards slip. So far we've set the bar and teams are looking upon us as a real threat this season. Long may it continue.''

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