Redbridge close in on Premier Division title
Jon Jacobs' side beat reigning champions Raiders in penultimate game of the season.
Andrew Sherwood is the Jewish News Sport and Community Editor
Redbridge Jewish Care A moved to within a victory of clinching the Premier Division title.
MGBSFL Premier Division:
Redbridge Jewish Care A 4 North London Raiders A 2
Sunday, 30 April, 2017
In a game watched by the League Chairman David Wolff, as well as the Oakwood manager, this game felt more like a cup final than a league game and Redbridge did just enough to send the title race into the final week.
Starting on the front foot, Redbridge took the game to Raiders and took an early lead from the game’s outstanding player with a smartly taken drive from Ben Sollosi. The lead was doubled after around 20 minutes when Zac Neiman’s free-kick was parried by the goalkeeper and Steve Summers swallowed up the rebound to record Redbridge’s 100th goal of the season in league and Cup .
A signature Sam Sollosi run ended up with the referee applying the laws of the game (as opposed to last week ) and awarding a penalty. This was a chance to bury the game once and for all. Captain Danny Berg stepped up, but the goalkeeper pulled off a decent save, diving to his right.
With the dangerous Liron Mannie darting round, the lead still did not feel comfortable and sure enough, a goal was pulled back against the run of play with a finish in front of goal to make the ever growing number of Redbridge fans get edgy again. Liron Mannie was now running at Redbridge at will, but not creating any chances but was tightening the game up.
Half-time came with a reminder that the title was in Redbridge’s hands if they kept playing their normal game but the game was a tight affair.
That went out of the window as within a few minutes, a bullet header from a corner saw Raiders draw level and now the game was anyone’s.
Steve Summers had run himself into the ground and was replaced by Matt Berkley with elder brother James already having replaced Russell Goldstein.
The defining moment of the game saw Sam Sollosi deliver a razor sharp finish after a smart run, sending the East London capacity crowd into raptures.
Raiders were not to be beaten and to their absolute credit, Peter Morrison final or not, kept on going and even sent back on the impressive Mannie who was playing on one leg having suffered a hamstring pull.
With around seven minutes left, Adam Hakimi was sent on with clear instructions from Jon Jacobs to sit and occupy the centre circle space and sweep up any trouble. Adam didn’t read the scrip clearly as he found himself in the Raiders penalty box and when the pullback came to him, he sent a rapier finish with a small deflection in to the net that delivered the coup de grace and put the title back on to the agenda. The mixture of parents, A and B team squad erupted off the pitch as the team celebrated on the pitch.. There was still time for an amazing body on the line block from Daryl Rubin that showed everyone what playing for Redbridge means, simply breathtaking .
Redbridge manager Jon Jacobs said: “It was a great match, restoring my faith in referees being able to handle big games and not shirking their responsibilities when called upon.
“Raiders were a credit to the League, they did everything possible to win the game even though they have the Peter Morrison final next Sunday, so wish them all the luck in the world to win against Manchester next week.
“We have one more game to turn good into spectacular, we’re determined to take that chance at Hadley next week, when we take on our perennial rivals as we look to bring the title back to Redbridge.”
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