Division Two side are purring after landmark win

L’Equipe made it ten wins from eleven games as they opened up an eight-point gap at the top of Division Two table…

PETER MORRISON TROPHY LAST 16 DRAW

————————–

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

PREMIER DIVISION:
Camden Park 0 Brady Maccabi 2
FC Team A P North London Raiders A P
(FC Team withdrew from game)
Maccabi London Lions A 1 Oakwood A 5
Woodford Wanderers 0 Hendon United A 4

DIVISION ONE:
Athletic Bilbaum 2 Hendon United B 1
Finchley City 5 Scrabble 2
Los Blancos 3 Faithfold A 0
North London Raiders B P Brixton Old Boys P
(Brixton withdrew from game)
Oakwood B 1 Redbridge Jewish Care B 2
MATCH REPORT

DIVISION TWO:
Catford & Bromley 0 L’Equipe 4
MATCH REPORT
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Hertswood Vale 3 FC Team B 2
Mill Hill Dons 2 Boca Jewniors 0
North London Raiders C 2 Real Hendon 5
RC UK FC 1 Temple Fortune 0

————————–

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: CATFORD & BROMLEY VS L’EQUIPE:

————————–

TEAM OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

GOALKEEPERS:
Will Martyn (Boca Jewniors)
Sam Singer (Mill Hill Dons)
Dan Cohen (Oakwood A)
Nati Kind (RC UK FC)
Doron Marks (Real Hendon)
Lee Fegan (Temple Fortune)

DEFENCE:
Gav Kreiger (Finchley City)
Daniel Sinclair (Finchley City)
Ben Kon (Hendon United A)
Yehuda Korman (Hendon United A)
Jordan Harris (Hertswood Vale)
Bailey Snow (Hertswood Vale)
Lee Warner (Oakwood A)
David Brown (RC UK FC)
Yisroel Lewis (RC UK FC)
Aaron Luftig (RC UK FC)
Chaim Strom (Real Hendon)
Adam Noble (Redbridge Jewish Care B)

MIDFIELD:
Eli Davila (Finchley City)
James Mandell (L’Equipe)
Mark Smith (L’Equipe)
Tom Prais (Oakwood A)
Rafi Stone (Oakwood A)
Brad Wine (Oakwood A)
Lollu Hibbert (Real Hendon)
Brad Gayer (Redbridge Jewish Care B)
Sam Sollosi (Redbridge Jewish Care B)

STRIKERS:
Jono Gaon (Finchley City)
Adam Hersh (Los Blancos)
Leor Sidle (Oakwood A)
Adam Goldman (Redbridge Jewish Care B)

————————–

TEAM OF THE WEEK

————————–

LEAGUE GOALSCORERS CHART (League & Cup)

GOAL OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

1) Jono Gaon (Finchley City)
Took the ball in the air, beat a couple of defenders and rifled a shot in the top corner from the edge of the area

2) Richard Hayim (Mill Hill Dons)
A Boca defender’s clearance hit Hayim straight in the head and rebounded in a sensational looping effort over the goalkeeper and into the net from 25 yards out

3) Adam Isaacs (Mill Hill Dons)
Sent through on goal, clipped a delightful chipped finish over the goalkeeper and into the far corner

4) James Mandell (L’Equipe)
Weaved his way past three players before nonchalantly slipping the ball past the goalkeeper

5) Yehuda Korman (Hendon United A)
Picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and unleashed an unstoppable swerving shot into top right hand corner

6) Adam Hersh (Los Blancos)
Controlled a waist high ball with his instep 30 yards out from goal, before hitting the ball on the turn and volley straight into the top corner

7) Lollu Hibbert (North London Raiders C)
Connected beautifully to a cross field pass, on the volley from the edge of the 18 yard line, giving the goalkeeper no chance

————————–

SAVE OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

1) Ben Rosenthal (Woodford Wanderers)
Pulled off a brilliant save from the penalty spot

2) Guy Ben Aroya (Catford & Bromley)
Saved a first attempt, before springing up to somehow turn the follow up shot from point-blank range up and over the bar onto the roof of the net

3) Nati Kind (RC UK FC)
A shot from ten yards out flashed low across the goal, but Kind got down and flew at full stretch to tip the ball around the post

4) Sam Singer (Mill Hill Dons)
A reaction save to tip a powerful volley over the bar from five yards out

5) Daniel Kosky (Los Blancos)
A side-footed volley into the ground from two yards out was heading for the top-corner until it was somehow tipped over the bar

————————–

QUOTE OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

1) Jacob Emanuel (Hertswood Vale)
“We tried everything in our power to throw away another lead.”

2) Jeff Gotch (Catford & Bromley)
“They will win league but they certainly are no footballing team.”

3) Daniel Kristall (Oakwood A)
“I say it each week but when we have our squad out, we are the best side in Jewish football.”

4) Nicholas Stern (L’Equipe)
“He played passes around like he was a mix of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.”

————————–

PREMIER DIVISION:

FIXTURES & RESULTS:
TABLE:

CAMDEN PARK 0 BRADY MACCABI 2
Brady ended a difficult first half of the season on a high as two goals from Sam Castle saw them claim the three points at Camden.

————————–

FC TEAM A P NORTH LONDON RAIDERS A P

TEAM WITHDREW FROM GAME

————————–

MACCABI LONDON LIONS A 1 OAKWOOD A 5
Oakwood moved up into second spot, thanks to this superb win at Rowley Lane.

Leor Sidle scored twice, with Sam Cantor, Guy Helman and Jonny Quinn also on target for the O’s.

Oakwood joint-manager Daniel Kristall told jewishnews.co.uk: “We saved our best performance of the season until the last of the calendar year.

“This was a stunning display and the 20 minutes after half-time was by far our best spell of attacking play this season. We were simply unplayable in the second half and it really could have been more. We went 1-0 down early on to a soft goal, but reacted superbly and were back on level terms within a couple of minutes through Cantor. We should have been ahead at the break but what was to follow was well worth the wait.

“There is not one team in the league that would have got close to us in that second half. They just had no answers to our aggressive, fast, attacking football. The returning Brad Wine caused them problems from minute 1. He has been badly missed and we are delighted to welcome him back for the rest of the season.

“I say it each week but when we have our squad out, we are the best side in Jewish football. For the first time this season, we had five quality subs and we were able to turn around to the bench and really change the game.

“All the substitutes made a positive impact on the game. Leor is building his fitness up and played the final 30 minutes yesterday. He was very unlucky not to score a 10 minute hat-trick, but took his two goals really well. Once he builds hit fitness up, he could be the key signing of the season.

“Make no mistake, this was a strong Lions side. This was a Lions team led by Max Kyte and littered with quality. A totally different Lions side than the one that face Hendon earlier in the season. My only hope is that they can field as strong a side as that every week. Otherwise it is pointless.

It was also of great disappointment and surprise that FC Team could not fulfill their fixture with Raiders because as we found out earlier in the season, they can be a real handful.

“We finish 2017 having only lost one league match in the entire calendar year. It has been a year of progress with many highs and a few lows including a cup final.

“Our cup defeats have certainly shortened our season, and when I look at yesterdays squad… I can only think “what if” but the Morrison defeat two weeks ago, might just have been our light bulb moment.  It may well have been the wake up call. The two squads since that defeat have been unrecognisable to the one that day. It has simplified our season and the reaction has been outstanding. Two big away wins at Rowley lane.

“Hendon may sit pretty at the top but they have had a gentle start to the season having not played us or Redbridge at all, so let’s see where they are once the business end of the season takes off. One thing is for sure, if we have yesterdays squad out, we will give ourselves a very good chance of being in the mix for the title.”

Adam Burchell scored the Lions’ consolation.

————————–

WOODFORD WANDERERS 0 HENDON UNITED A 4
Hendon will go into 2017 with a five points lead at the top of the table after they comfortably won at Woodford.

Yehuda Korman scored a hat-trick, with Rocky Spitzer also on target.

Manager David Garbacz told jewishnews.co.uk: “We took a little while to get going today probably, still getting last week out of the system, and when Avi Korman had his penalty well saved in the 25^th minute it felt like it could be one of those days. Thankfully his brother Yehuda Korman then took over, scoring an absolute cracker, and from then onwards we were always in control and we really enjoyed ourselves in the second half and played some great stuff. This was also our third successive clean sheet in the league which is particularly satisfying. Woodford fought well all game but we ran out deserving winners and we wish them well for the second half of the season.

“We now go into the two week break in pole position in the league. Hopefully we can patch up some of our injured players and get them ready for a massive first game of 2017 against Redbridge but the half term report will state very satisfied but still a long way to go.”

Woodford manager Daryl Kay told jewishnews.co.uk: “I’m not sure we deserved to lose by four, it was 1-0 at half-time and only through an absolute belter of a goal that no goalie could’ve saved.

“We battled hard again in the second half, but two sloppy goals in the space of three minutes sealed our fate.

“There were positives though, our goalkeeper Ben Rosenthal was back to his best, brilliantly saving a penalty at 0-0, Paul Biller had a very good second half and our two new signings will come good once they get a bit fitter.

“We now have a short rest and it gives us time to reflect on how we can improve for the second half of the season.”

————————–

DIVISION ONE:

FIXTURES & RESULTS
TABLE

ATHLETIC BILBAUM 2 HENDON UNITED B 1
Bilbaum made it two wins on the spin as they show signs of escaping from the relegation fight when the season resumes in three weeks’ time.

————————–

FINCHLEY CITY 5 SCRABBLE 2
City ended the year in spectacular style as they fought back to earn a thrilling win and claim joint-top spot in the table.

Jono Gaon and Oli Sade both scored twice for the hosts, with Sam Leader also on target.

Manager Joel Holder told jewishnews.co.uk: “The boys were absolutely sensational today and fully deserved the victory. Everyone stuck to the game-plan which was to nullify Scrabble in midfield and hit them on the break.

“Scrabble dominated for the first 20 minutes, but couldn’t penetrate through our defence. They resorted to speculative efforts which we dealt with reasonably easily.

“Our first goal came against the run of play, but what a sublime goal it was. When Jono Gaon took the ball in the air, there was no stopping him when he unleashed an absolute scorcher into the top corner. After that it was quite even, but we were quite vulnerable from set-pieces and Scrabble got a scrappy equaliser before half-time.

“The second half we came out the blocks much quicker, but we failed to deal with a long-throw and saw ourselves 2-1 with about 30 minutes to go. We changed the system with two positive substitutes – Sam Leader and Moshe Fehler who made a massive impact when they came on the pitch. We moved Oli Sade more central who just ran riot. The Scrabble defence could not handle the pace and trickery of Sade and Gaon.

“With Oli, there are periods in the game where he is quiet, but he almost always produces that piece of magic to win us games. At the same time, the defensive shape, leadership and courage the team showed today was just incredible. It was without doubt the most complete performance of the season.

“I have believed in our team since pre-season and with six wins on the bounce and joint top at the league going into the New Year, I honestly believe that this is just the start and we will only get better and better as the season develops.”

Josh Bentley and Elliot Espinoza strikes had seen Scrabble take a 2-1 lead early in the second half.

Manager Ray Abrahams told jewishnews.co.uk: “After last Sunday’s performance against Lions, we are very disappointed with the way things have happened for us today and didn’t deserve anything out of the game.

“Having gone 2-1 ahead early in the second half and fighting back from a goal down, our defending for some of their goals was abysmal and we had so many chances at the other end which we squandered.

“Also at 2-1 up, a horrendous tackle on our influential midfielder Josh Pugh could have broken his leg. As it was, it put him out of the game and went unpunished when a red card at that stage would have changed the game. Instead we lost Pugh and their player stayed on the pitch to influence the result.

“But fair play to Finchley, they are a great bunch of lads who wanted it more than us today and whilst we gifted them a couple of goals at crucial moments, they took their chances and deserved the result.

“We have to dust ourselves down and show a positive reaction to this result in our next game early in the new year.

“We are still very much in the promotion race and the league is so close this season that everyone is taking points off everyone else so things will change week to week.

“We’ve had some very tough fixtures and played a lot of the top teams in our first nine games so to be sitting where we are in the league means we are well placed for a promotion push in the new year.

“We also have a great chance to put today’s result right when we meet Finchley again in the quarter final of the Cyril Anekstein Cup when we resume things after the break.”

————————–

LOS BLANCOS 3 FAITHFOLD A 0
The Blancos boys continued their fine run of form of late with this ultimately comfortable win.

Simon Moses, Tim Heynes and Adam Hersh were all on target for the home side. Manager Nick Grosse told jewishnews.co.uk: “This week’s squad was thin but my selection headache was as throbbing as usual. I have to give a special mention to Simon Moses who disembarked a plane from China at Gatwick in the early hours and headed straight to the ground.

“We were on top form and Faithfold looked a little disjointed. Faithfold had a couple of decent chances throughout the match, but the scoreline was a fair reflection, and barring a couple of exceptional saves, the gap could have been five or six.”

————————–

NORTH LONDON RAIDERS B P BRIXTON OLD BOYS P

BRIXTON WITHDREW FROM GAME

————————–

OAKWOOD B 1 REDBRIDGE B 2
MATCH REPORT
Sam Rank’s side claimed another impressive win as they secured the three points which moved them joint-top of the table.

Brad Gayer and Sam Sollosi were both on target for the visiting victors.

James Abrams netted the O’s reply, for whom manager Jason Stein told jewishnews.co.uk: “I thought it was a very close game and a player like Sam Solossi playing for Redbridge B really was the diference today. He’s absolutely unplayable and did well for the winner.

“Perhaps I should be flattered that him and Ryan Cole were called upon for the game.

“We tried to execute a gameplan to hit the ball long to break the rapid Redbridge press. They’re a physically demanding side to play against and sometimes our plan worked with our quick forwards Sam Modlin and Dan Selwyn getting in behind the Redbridge defence.

“On another day we’d maybe have taken a point but what I learned today is that against a player like Solossi you must be switched on for every single second.”

————————–

DIVISION TWO:

FIXTURES & TABLES
TABLE

CATFORD & BROMLEY 0 L’EQUIPE 4
MATCH REPORT
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
L’Equipe claimed their tenth league win of the season to further reinforce their title hopes as they moved eight points clear at the top of the table.

Max Martin, Andy Smith, Grant Bates and James Mandell all scoring for Nicholas Stern’s side.

Catford player-manager Jeff Gotch told jewishnews.co.uk: “Only thing I wanna say is we were the better team for 60 minutes and didn’t take our chances.

“They will win the league but they certainly are no footballing team.”

————————–

HERTSWOOD VALE 3 FC TEAM B 2
Vale ended the year with their first league win of the season.

Danny Feuer, Josh Cohen and Bailey Snow all scored to put them in a commanding 3-0 position, but two late strikes from the visitors ensured a nerve-wrangling finish for the hosts.

Vale’s Jacob Emanuel told jewishnews.co.uk: “We tried everything in our power to throw away another lead, finally our first league win of the season…and boy has it been coming!

“We turned up to the game already two players short from the match squad due to last-minute drop outs due to illness. Despite this, we put in a stunning first 45 minutes. 

“To say the first-half of the season has been disappointing would be an understatement. However, over the last three games we’ve finally been able to get a good squad together and the quality is at last beginning to show with three truly impressive performances.

“I’m absolutely over the moon that we don’t head into 2017 at the bottom of the MGBSFL. We certainly don’t belong there and we have strong intentions to get as many points between now and the end of the season.”

Mitch Young and Michael Marks scored for Team.

————————–

MILL HILL DONS 2 BOCA JEWNIORS 0
The Dons moved up to fourth spot thanks to this win over the bottom side.

Richard Hayim and Adam Isaccs strikes steering the Dons to the points.

Manager Brandon Hamme told jewishnews.co.uk: “A good result but we were far from our best. For some reason we just didn’t really get going today and the build up play was very laboured.

“We perhaps got a bit too cocky after our great win last time out, but the result is all that matters and a very solid defensive performance gives us reason to feel optimistic heading into 2017.

“We’re climbing up the league after a poor start and to break into the top-four is a great way to end the year. We now have 10 league games in 2017 and we’re firmly in the promotion race which is an exciting prospect. It’s all to play for and we’ll be working hard on the training ground to make sure we achieve it.”

Boca’s Anton Nyman told jewishnews.co.uk: “A case of nearly but yet so far. All that was in the game until the 89th minute was one of the world’s luckiest goals against us – a clearance striking the backs of one of their players outside the box and looping all the way back over the keeper behind!

“We threw everything forwards, had a disallowed goal for offside, another one wrongly chalked off having crossed the line, but it wasn’t to be and they countered down the other end and scored.”

————————–

NORTH LONDON RAIDERS 2 REAL HENDON 5
Hendon gave themselves renewed hope for the second half of the season as they claimed an impressive win.

Lollu Hibbert scored a hat-trick with Gav Noe on target twice. Acting manager Joseph Goldberg told jewishnews.co.uk: “The win is dedicated to our absent gaffer Chaim Gothold and his wife Sophie on the birth of their new daughter, although his players don’t believe the circumstances are really an acceptable excuse for missing the game.”

————————–

RC UK FC 1 TEMPLE FORTUNE 0
Third hosted second and it saw the former close to within a point of the latter thanks to a winning goal from the home side’s Avi Markiewicz.

Markiewicz told jewishnews.co.uk: “In a very tight game, we came out on top of a game that ultimately we deserved to win. They came with a game plan and that was to bully us. At the beginning of the season it would have worked and at the beginning of the season this would have been a game that we’d have lost.

“There were chances on both sides. They had chances, but we could have scored ten. We’ve also now kept our fourth clean sheet in a row and in Sunday league, where mistake’s are common place, that’s quite some going, with a lot of that credit going to our goalkeeper.

“We can now go into the break on a really positive note with some really fantastic results recently, but more importantly we have won in all circumstances. Games like Raiders, where we were in total control from start to finish, Real Hendon, where we were missing a lot of players, Oakwood, where it was back to the wall and today with the super physical. Everyone around the club is really buzzing and we can’t wait to kick on again in January.”

Fortune’s manager Simon Linden told jewishnews.co.uk: “It was a hard defeat to take as it was difficult to separate the two teams.

“Credit to my team, on another day we may have nicked this one, but it wasn’t to be. Both goalkeepers where faultless and pulled off some great saves.

“It ends a run of eight games unbeaten and I now challenge my team to go on another run, turning more draws in to wins. I praise both sides for a good game of football, it’s just a shame it wasn’t our day. But this is far from over. They have got to play Redbridge twice, Catford, L’Equipe and a few other tough games.

“As a club, we have probably gained more points in half a season than we did in the last three, we;re heading in the right direction and I’m proud of everyone involved.”

————————–