Jack Christie saw his Stoke Salmon side move to within a point off top spot in the Maccabi Southern Football League (MGBSFL) Premier Division table on Sunday morning, and is now hoping his side can achieve something ‘special’ this season.
Goals from Benji Katz – lobbing the goalkeeper from inside his own half – and Jordan Harris’ strike saw them claim a 2-0 win over Redbridge Jewish Care A as they closed the gap on leaders Hendon United Sports Club to a solitary point.
Not exactly happy with their third league win of the season, Christie said: “I thought today’s performance was probably one of our worst of the season. The pitch, conditions and opposition stopped us playing our usual football, but one thing we didn’t let faulter was our defensive discipline. When you stay as solid as we do, you always have a chance to win a game and I was also really pleased with the performance of Asher Goldberg who changed the game in midfield when he came on.”
Feeling they ran out deserved winners, he said: “On another day it could easily have been 0-0, but we just had the extra bit of fight. Big credit to their manager Brandon Levene, they came out in the first half as the side who definitely wanted it more in the first half, however good teams win ugly and today was an example of it.”
Reflecting back on their start to the season, he continued: “It’s honestly hard to say because being one of the favourites to go down at the start of the season, we should be happy with where we are. However, in two of our games against Hendon and Yallatasary, we have thrown away points in the last minute of games, so we should be higher up.”
Not though looking to took about title challenges, he added: “All in all, the league table for us is secondary. The main thing is we have a lovely group of boys who go about things the right way and all enjoy playing together. Who knows, with all that in mind, maybe we can do something special somewhere in the season.”
Redbridge manager Brandon Levene revealed how his side were somewhat depleted, having to field an outfield player in goal due to not being able to call on a goalkeeper for the match, while losing one of their key attacking players, Nathan Kashket, during the match to what he described as being a ‘reckless’ challenge.
As to the match itself, he said: “We were completely on top for the first 35 minutes. Shortly after Nathan had to come off, we conceded a goal where the wind carried it into our goal from a long-range effort which was disappointing. Even still after that, we looked the better team and they didn’t threaten, it was only after another goalkeeping error they scored a second.”
Reflecting on his own side’s start to the season, he added: “It’s been tough, but we go again.”
Geez Park Rangers join them in joint-second place after they recorded a 2-1 win at Stopinsky. Daniel Richard Creese and Jacob Lauder scoring their goals.
Sukkotingham Forest increased their lead at the top of the Division One table to four points as two goals from Josh Summerfield helped them edge a seven-goal thriller, as they came away from Hampstead Ducks with a 4-3 win. Eytan Millan and Ruben Wapnick claimed their two other goals.
Game of the day saw 40 Year Wanderers bag their first league win of the season as they fought back from trailing 4-2, having been leading 2-0, to incredibly beat Temple Fortune 6-4.
Sam Holden scored four times, with Matt Waks and Tom Stepsky also on target. Manager Sam Anderson said: “The boys finally got the result they’ve so deserved. To fight back from 4-2 down with 40 minutes to go is testimony to the commitment and effort they’ve shown all season. I couldn’t be prouder to manage this group of boys.” Joel Berman scored twice for Fortune, with Adam Goodman and Ben Bowers also finding the back of the net, albeit ultimately in vain.
Bochur Juniors saw victory slip through their fingers as Brady fought back to claim a 3-2 win. Goals from Judah Yawitch and Solly Levy had put Bochur in control, with manager Joel Ucko saying: “Credit to Brady, they were tremendous and deserved to win. From our perspective, football is decided by fine margins, and we made too many mistakes to merit anything.” Saul Shimoni scored twice for Brady, with Aaron Diamond netting their third.
Division Two leaders Real Masmid were handed a first league defeat of the season as Redbridge Jewish Care B claimed a memorable 3-2 win. Goals from Shai Carmel Brown and Harrison Nathan, plus a goalkeeping error from Daniel Shone’s corner earned them a point, with manager Dani Sivan saying: “After two tough losses, the boys responded perfectly, they gave everything, showed real character, and proved we can compete with the very best when we play our game.”
Schlepfield Wednesday are up into second spot in the table as Samuel Adams’ 66th minute winner proved to be the difference as they came away from Wolverhampstead Wanderers with a 1-0 win.
Beitar Bushey claimed their second league win of the season as they beat Scrabble 3-0. Scrabble manager Ollie Sugarman said: “A good performance on the day, and a very solid second half showed that we are constantly improving every game.”
The one match played in the Maccabi Masters Football League saw the points shared as St John’s Wood Tigers and Temple Fortune played out a 1-1 draw. Jonny Blain scored on his Masters debut to give Fortune the lead, but Dan Hinden equalised for Tigers, consigning Fortune to their third draw in five games.
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