Pirates ahoy! Straw Hat smash five past Raiders

Straw Hat Pirates leapfrog Raiders with convincing win, as Premier Division champions need 95th minute winner to beat Camden Park.

SUNDAY’S RESULTS AT A GLANCE (SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL REVIEW):

PREMIER DIVISION:
Maccabi London Lions White P Redbridge Jewish Care A P
Oakwood A 3 Camden Park 2

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DIVISION ONE:
Redbridge Jewish Care B P Faithfold A P
Scrabble 1 Oakwood B 3
Temple Fortune A P North London Raiders B P
Fortune unable to raise side

DIVISION TWO:
Catford & Bromley P Mill Hill Dons P
Waterlogged pitch
Fairlop FC 7 Temple Fortune B 0
Faithfold B 2 Real Hendon 5
Hertswood Vale 3 FC Team 2
North London Raiders C 1 Straw Hat Pirates 5

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PETER MORRISON TROPHY LAST 16 DRAW:

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LEAGUE GOALSCORERS CHART (League & Cup)

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TEAM OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

GOALKEEPER:
Steve Murad (Camden Park)
Joni Hirschowitz (Hertswood Vale)
Ben Lewis (Oakwood B)
Ed Bloom (Scrabble)

DEFENCE:
Ashley Hirschberger (Hertswood Vale)
Adrian Leibovitch (Hertswood Vale)
Max Clynes (Oakwood B)
Ben Krieger (Scrabble)
Oli Richardson (Scrabble)
Glen Turner (Scrabble)

MIDFIELD:
Rick Harris (Camden Park)
Johan Jordi (Camden Park)
Bradley Gayer (Fairlop FC)
Josh Wood (Hertswood Vale)
Simon Davies (Oakwood B)
Ben Feingold (Oakwood B)
Daniel Selwyn (Oakwood B)
Gideon Gale (Straw Hat Pirates)
Barney Rhodes (Straw Hat Pirates)

STRIKERS:
Max Martin (Camden Park)
David Woolman (Oakwood A)
Brad Wine (Oakwood A)
Joe Metliss (Real Hendon)
Aron Gale (Straw Hat Pirates)

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SEE WHO MADE IT INTO TEAM OF THE WEEK…

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GOALS OF THE WEEK:

1) Joe Metliss (Real Hendon) – Picked up the ball on the right wing, turned several defenders inside out, before applying a dainty touch around the onrushing goalkeeper

2) Ashley Hirschberger (Hertswood Vale) – His first goal for the club was a speculative drive from inside his own half which left the goalkeeper stranded

3) Sammy Assil (Straw Hat Pirates) – Barney Rhodes’ thundering run down the left wing saw him cut into the Raiders box, draw the goalkeeper off his line, before getting the ball to Assil, who slotted home from a tight angle

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SAVES OF THE WEEK:

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

1) Jacob Emanuel (Hertswood Vale) – “Having to pay out a shed load of cash to ensure this game went ahead on 4G wasn’t ideal but it was justified with a 3-2 win against the league’s most in-form team”

2) Jacob Emanuel (Hertswood Vale) – “Ashley Hirschberger, who hasn’t scored since the 90s, powered home from inside his own half which evaded the grasp of the keeper and flew into the top corner”

3) Stirling Kay (Camden Park) – “No question the better team did not win, the Oakwood players came off the pitch embarrassed to have won the game”

4) Mitch Young (FC Team) – “They scored a fluke 60-yard goal and then had a player in goal where his performance was one of the best individual performances I have seen from any goalkeeper in 15 years”

5) Aaron Dias (Fairlop FC) – “See you in 2018, where two things are guaranteed, a royal wedding and more Bradley Gayer Goals…”

6) Elliot Cukier (Straw Hat Pirates) – “The best performance he [Gideon Gale] has done in a Straw Hats shirt and probably in his life.

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PREMIER DIVISION:
FIXTURES & RESULTS:
TABLE:

MACCABI LONDON LIONS WHITE P REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE A P

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OAKWOOD A 3 CAMDEN PARK 2
Oakwood made it five wins from six games – though only after a 95th minute winner from Brad Wine.

Dave Woolman scored their other two goals. Manager Daniel Kristall told jewishnews.co.uk: “This was a very hard fought win and Stirling is right, we were lucky. But having said that, the preparation wasn’t ideal as the referee (through no fault of his own), was stuck in traffic on the North Circular meaning a 1030 kick-off and two shortened halves which I believe suited our opponents. We completed our warm-up early and couldn’t get going for 20 minutes, by which point we were 1-0 down.

“Credit to Camden, I said it a month ago and they have strengthened since then. They battled hard, were well organised and had a good game plan. If they keep playing like that, they will cause a surprised or two. I firmly believe they can stay up.

“We scraped past a few teams last year on route to the title and it’s impossible to play champagne football every week.
It is however a results business at all levels of the game and yesterday we got the result. If you can win when you aren’t at your best, its a sign of a good team. Once again we showed our battling character with Brads late goal and this could prove to be a big win.

“We must improve. We have got nowhere near our best yet. The second half of last year we were much stronger and we expect that to be the case again.

“Having said that, we end 2017 unbeaten away from home in the league, with one league defeat in the entire year and the current MSFL Champions. Not bad ey?”

Grant Bates and Max Martin scored on their debuts for Camden, for whom manager Stirling Kay told jewishnews.co.uk: “No question the better team did not win, the Oakwood players came off the pitch embarrassed to have won the game.

“We gave debuts to Max and Grant and they showed the character and ability we were looking for in our players. After being 1-0 up we were forced into early changes, lost our shape and momentum and Oakwood went ahead with two bad clearances which ended up as goals.

“We ran the game in the second half, got a deserved equaliser and continued to press, but the ball would not bounce kindly for us. Then, like the first half, we were forced into more changes and once again we got punished when we didn’t adapt quickly enough and Oakwood had their first shot on goal and scored.

“The result was hard to take as we had battled so hard through out, but undoubtedly we finish 2017 on a high with this performance, we have been hit with so many long term injuries and players not being available and getting 11 out each week has been a achievement. We are really looking forward to having at least five or six players back from injuries and other commitments from the beginning of the new year.

“And with new signings Max and Grant, we’re very confident we can climb the table and carry on our cup run.”

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DIVISION ONE:
FIXTURES & RESULTS
TABLE

REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B P FAITHFOLD A P

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SCRABBLE 1 OAKWOOD B 3
Scrabble spurned the chance to close the gap to the leaders as the O’s moved joint-second in the table.

Simon Davies, Max Clynes and an own goal secured the three points for the visitors. Manager Jason Stein told jewishnews.co.uk: “A brilliant win and a top class performance from the boys. This game really mattered and they did a thoroughly professional job, controlling the game from start to finish. 

“In typical Oakwood B fashion we missed a number of chances and we were briefly pegged back to 1-1 but we had more than enough to see it over the line.

“I was amazed this game was snubbed for live coverage or photos. Maybe Willesden is a bit too far. Provided us with a bit of extra motivation.

“We’re in a really good place now so perhaps we’ll get a bit more media coverage.”

Josh Pugh had equalised for Scrabble for whom manager Ray Abrahams told jewishnews.co.uk: “As if our injury list isn’t bad enough at the moment, we lost Ben Cantopher, our centre-back, just before the game as well. We had almost a whole team of players out today for one reason or another and I’m proud of the way the boys that did play performed and worked so hard to turn our recent form around.

“Hopefully everyone will benefit from a couple of weeks without a game and we can come back in 2018 with some of our key players back in the squad. In this league one or two players can completely change a game and we’ve been lacking options in our last few matches.

“We are on a bad run at the moment but the boys will continue to work hard to turn things round and we just need a result to get us back on track.

“Full credit though to Jason Stein and his Oakwood boys today and they just about had the edge on us where it mattered.

“Their goals came from corners though and it was good to see us defending well in open play and we looked more comfortable when we changed to a 4-5-1 in the second half and shored up our midfield.”

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TEMPLE FORTUNE A P NORTH LONDON RAIDERS B P
Fortune unable to raise side

Fortune released a statement, which read: “Due to a dire shortage of players, the Club have been forced to postpone today’s Division One fixture against North London Raiders B. With the Second Team scheduled to play too, the Club has been extremely stretched on the availability front this week. One could count forfeitures by TFFC on one hand covering many seasons – the policy has always been to fulfil fixtures and only forfeit as a very last resort.

“So many of the squad have been unavailable for one reason or another and despite Simon Linden’s commendable efforts this week he could not raise more than nine players, which included at least two Second Team players.”

Club chairman Nigel Kyte added: “We loathe forfeiting any fixture, but despite signing up to play, knowing that we have regular matches to fulfil, all too many players make themselves unavailable when we need them. Of course, we have a few out injured and others away that we knew about, but all in all we are facing a difficult situation regarding the commitment from some individuals.

“Simon is working hard to turn this around because we refuse to let the First Team go the way two other clubs have already gone this season. The manager hopes to bring in new additions who want to play for TFFC. This is an unfortunate blip which hopefully will be rectified by those still committed to the cause – plus some newcomers.

“The forfeiture is extremely disappointing but we will work hard to complete the season. Our apologies go to NLR for pulling out at short notice and to the referee. I would like to thank Jonathan Adelman for his understanding and sympathetic stance regarding our decision.”

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DIVISION TWO:
FIXTURES & RESULTS
TABLE

CATFORD & BROMLEY P MILL HILL DONS P
Waterlogged pitch

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FAIRLOP FC 7 TEMPLE FORTUNE B 0
Fairlop put some distance between themselves and the foot of the table as four goals from Bradley Gayer inspired them to this emphatic win.

James Jaconelli, Adam Goldman and Jordan Kara also all got on the scoresheet.

Manager Aaron Dias told jewishnews.co.uk: “After last week’s game being called off the boys were raring to today, the squad welcomed the return of last year’s player of the year Ryan Cole, who was out with a nasty broken nose”.

“The lads played some very silky football and the only thing I can fault was the poor finishing, it could have been 15 if our forwards brought their shooting boots today”.

“That’s two league wins in a row now and we are hitting some decent form as we enter the winter break, you could say the winter break is very lucky for the likes of Bayern Mincha & MH Dons as I certainly wouldn’t want to be playing our team at the moment, although, if I was them, I wouldn’t want to play us period.

“I wish all at the JN a happy Chanukah and New Year! See you in 2018, where two things are guaranteed, a royal wedding and more Bradley Gayer Goals…”

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FAITHFOLD B 2 REAL HENDON 5
A hat-trick from Joe Metliss helped Hendon claim a morale-boosting win.

Gav Noe and Lolu Hibbert were also on target for the visitors, with manager Rafi Addlestone telling jewishnews.co.uk: “After a really bad run of form, we put ourselves back on the map today with a classy performance.

“In the end, it was an excellent result for Hendon, matched by an excellent performance. Absentees Martin Smulovitch, Yossi Goldberg, Gilad Kestenbaum and Jordan Alex will be asking themselves whether they will be able to make it back into the side after the holiday break.”

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HERTSWOOD VALE 3 FC TEAM 2
Vale moved up to joint-sixth as goals from Josh Wood, Harry Graham and Ashley Hirshberger saw them win this five-goal thriller.

Joint-manager Jacob Emanuel told jewishnews.co.uk: “Having to pay out a shed load of cash to ensure this game went ahead on 4G wasn’t ideal, but it was justified with a 3-2 win against the league’s most in-form team.

“We went into the game in high spirits following our win against Raiders C – although we’ve had to wait three weeks to play since.

“We won 3-2 although I go away disappointed, along with the opposition manager, that both teams left the field with 10 men.

“A huge win that proves what we can do when we have a full squad to choose from.”

Player-manager Mitch Young and Danny Moss scored for Team. Young told jewishnews.co.uk: “In a game where we missed no less than 15 comfortable chances, we are bitterly disappointed to lose.

“They scored a fluke 60-yard goal and then had a player in goal where his performance was one of the best individual performances I have seen from any goalkeeper in 15 years. Without him we would have won 6-3 and if we had been more clinical we would have won anyway. Well done to them and we move on to 2018 where we look forward to continue to challenge.”

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NORTH LONDON RAIDERS C 1 STRAW HAT PIRATES 5
The Pirates leapfrogged the Raiders into fifth spot with this win.

Aron Gale scored twice, with Gideon Gale, Sammy Assil and an 
own goal sealing the win.

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