CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP FINAL
REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE A 1 MACCABI LONDON LIONS A 2
Maccabiah-bound Burchell was the hero of the hour after breaking Redbridge hearts with virtually the last kick of an at-times fiery affair.
The east Londoners know that had they taken their chances, they could have been out of sight by half-time, but they missed a catalogue of highly-presentable opportunities and were hit with the ultimate sucker punch in what some people described as a "smash and grab".
Lions boss Ryan Springer selected a strong front three of Max Kyte, Austin Lipman and Adam Arnold for the match, but there was no Josh Kennet.
Redbridge boss Jon Jacobs named an attack-minded team, but there was no room for experienced striker Steve Summers and stalwart Danny Hakimi on the bench. Had Summers been involved, the chances are that it would be Redbridge's name on the cup.
As it was, it was Redbridge who made the better start, after a snapshot from Adam Arnold was easily held by Dan Lee.
The east Londoners started to push the Lions back, and Springer acted by introducing the pacy Burchell early on, as one of his rolling substitutions.
A great dual between Dean Nyman and Jon Ellis unfolded, with the latter producing some heroic blocks as Redbridge peppered the Lions goal.
Nathan Sollosi and Daniel Garfinkle were rampaging down the Redbridge left, but Max Hassell, competing in his first Anekstein Cup final, put up some solid resistance.
And then came a goal. Out of nothing. A long clearance found Arnold whose first touch was brilliant. He then showed wonderful technique to lift the ball into the roof of the net, leaving Lee rooted to the spot.
Redbridge looked shell-shocked, but they responded well, with Ellis making another brave block and then Nyman heading over at the far post.
Referee Mark Jacob had his hands full, with some crunching tackles from both sets of players. Sam Sollosi then produced one of his trademark mazy runs, beating several challenges before firing over in front of a gaping goal.
Redbridge then had three shots in 10-seconds, with the move finishing with Nyman drilling his shot wide of the post.
The Lions mustered a rare attack and, after a brilliant goalline clearance, Redbridge broke but Russell Goldstein smashed his shot over the bar.
The Lions went into the break with a narrow advantage, although I counted 12 Redbridge chances, so the message from boss Jon Jacobs would have been 'more of the same'.
Yet it was the Lions who started the second half on the front foot. First, Max Kyte fired a volley straight at Lee and from the rebound Austin Lipman smashed a stunning effort against the underside of the bar. There were calls for a goal from the stand, but it didn't need a Russian linesman to adjudge the ball had not crossed the line. Just a quick shake of the head by assistant-referee Laurence Thorne and Mark Jacob waved play on.
Nyman continued to keep the Lions defence on their toes, stinging the finger of David Sacal, who we believe is the first Mexican to have ever played in a League Cup final.
Redbridge deservedly drew level on 55 minutes when Nathan Sollosi touched a short free-kick to his right and centre-back Zac Neiman slotted a 25-yard sidefooted strike into the bottom corner. It was game on.
With extra-time looming, Ben Lampert and Jon Ellis went into Jacob's notebook for some contentious late tackles. It looked as though the tie would drag into an additional 30 minutes, until a moment of magic from Arnold saw his sliderule pass found Burchell, who had timed his run to perfection, and didn't need to break to stroke the ball past the outstretched hand of Lee and spark scenes of wild celebrations.
The final whistle sounded shortly after as the Lions bench erupted into party mode, and the Redbridge players, who had given their all, and deserved extra-time, dropped to their knees.
Dejected Redbridge boss Jon Jacobs told JC Sport: "I would like to congratulate London Lions on their cup final win today. I am very disappointed with the outcome of today’s game but am magnanimous in defeat to a team that took their chances where we didn’t.
"I thought Redbridge had more than enough to win and I am so so proud of all of the boys and the effort they put in. They will have to use this defeat as motivation for the remaining two games of the season."
Jacobs went on to say: "The only negative note for me was in the officiating. I thought that when it came to 50-50 decisions, RJC didn’t get the rub of the green and in the big decisions, the referee chose to keep his notebook in his pocket when the correct decision would have been to see a red card.
"In a tight game, decisions like this can have a huge impact on the game and I believe the decisions made not to issue a second yellow card for the hack on Sam Sollosi and to not issue a straight red card for a stamp on Dean Nyman were really poor decisions.
"We needed to have been out of sight in this game to win this but credit to Lions who stuck to their game-plan and took their chances.
"This game will rankle in east London for years to come but we will take this bitter pill and use it to go and win the Premier League and bring some deserved silverware back to Redbridge."
Redbridge's double dream is now over, but they know that victories over North London Raiders A and Hendon United Sports Club A will see them lift the MGBSFL Premier Division trophy. Failure to secure maximum points would result in current leaders Oakwood A being crowned champions.
REDBRIDGE: Dan Lee, Danny Berg (capt), Zac Neiman, Daryl Rubin, Ryan Cole, Ben Sollosi, Sam Sollosi, Nathan Sollosi, Russell Goldstein, Daniel Garfinkle, Dean Nyman. Subs: Adam Hakimi, Sam McCarthy, Matt Berkley, James Berkley, Scott Oldstein
SCORER: Neiman 55
LIONS: David Sacal, WIll Beresford, Alex Taylor, Jon Ellis, Max Hassell, James Gold, Ben Lampert (capt), Jamie Jackson, Adam Arnold, Austin Lipman, Max Kyte. Subs: Richard Gold, Harry Marlow, Ryan Springer, Adam Adabi, Adam Burchell
SCORERS: Arnold 10, Burchell 90
