Finishing master-class takes Oakwood four points clear

Oakwood soon gained a foothold on an excellent surface at Hadley FC, with Leor Sidle missing a guilt-edged opportunity from six yards, thinking he was offside.

Sidle then warmed the hands of Arthur Caplin, who was filling in for Russ Corin between the sticks. The young stopper also dived smartly to his right to push around goal-bound effort around the post.

Bentwood broke the deadlock with a JC Goal of the Season contender midway through the half. He latched on to a Hendon clearance 35 yards from goal before lashing home a delicious swerving volley into the top corner. Caplin didn’t even have time to move.

With the bit between their teeth, Oakwood doubled the lead from their next attack as Wine produced a stunning swivel and shot around the penalty spot to find the top corner. Oakwood were in dream land, and Hendon didn’t know what had hit them.

It was soon 3-0 as the impressive Lee curled a free-kick over the wall and into the top corner and a shell-shocked Hendon were relieved to hear the half-time whistle.

To their credit, Hendon did not let their heads drop and they took the battle to Oakwood in the second half. However, they could not find a way through until the industrious Spitzer finally found a way past the outstanding Caplin with a long-range screamer. 

Kristall told JC Sport: “The game was tough but we managed to win it in a 10-minute spell where we shocked Hendon. We scored three brilliant goals and Kyle’s should be winning goal of the week award this week.

“I felt that in the first half, we were the much better side and other than the odd scare from the pace of the Hendon counter-attack, I felt we had control of the game and most of the possession.

“The second half was a different game where we defended very well and soaked up the pressure that Hendon applied on us. They showed us what a good team they are in the second half and that they were not unbeaten in the league for no reason, but we stood firm and asked them to break us down and it was not until the 98^th minute that they found a way through with a brilliant strike.

“With very few injuries and only three or four substitutes in the game, both Ric and I were slightly bemused at where the extra-time was coming from but we respect the referee’s call.

“I thought our back four plus our goalkeeper were superb. Dean was outstanding in goal. By far his best display in an Oaks shirt.”

Kristall went on to say some of the Oakwood performance have given Ric Blank and him a selection headache ahead of the rematch.

“We still have lots to improve on and it was a welcomed 90 minutes for players like Harvey and Kyle,” said Kristall.

“It’s never been so competitive for places than it is right now. We will have some difficult decisions to make this Sunday with absent players returning but that is a healthy position to be in.

“We are certainly not getting carried away as our final few games are extremely testing but if we keep the balance between goal-scoring and the defensive side of our game as we are at the moment, we will give ourselves a great chance.

“We know that David will rally his troops this week and we expect a big response from them. We look forward to round two this Sunday.”

Disappointed Hendon boss David Garbacz told JC Sport: "For the second game running, we had a mad 15-minute spell in a match, and during that time towards the end of the first half we conceded three sloppy goals. Whilst they were all excellent finishes from Oakwood’s point of view they were all unavoidable from ours.

"The first one we allowed a cross to come in from the right which should have been closed down, the second was an uncharacteristic defensive error from the otherwise excellent Yehuda Korman and the third was a speculative 40-yard free-kick which I think our keeper should have saved.

"Apart from that period I thought we were the superior team – in the second half especially we battered them for 45 minutes and were very unlucky to see two incredible goal-line headed clearances, plus two woodworks and numerous excellent saves from their keeper.

"On another day we would have recovered from the half time deficit but it just was not to be our day and they defended exceptionally well to keep us out, as we were rampant for that period.

"We probably gave them a bit too much respect early on and sat back too deep, but once we realised we were the better footballing team we took the game to them but the comeback was not to be."

Garbacz is confident Hendon can exact revenge in the return match at Nicholas Breakspear. He went on to say: "On the plus side I think we go into next week’s return match with all the momentum – we will have some important players back who were missing today – we were only able to name 11 men today with two more late pull-outs – and there is no doubt that next week’s match now represents a virtual cup final for both teams.

"We always said if we can get out of these two Oakwood games with three out of six points it would keep us in pole position but there is no doubt that we cannot afford to switch off like we did today for any period in the match as a team with their quality will punish you.

"The boys are not too down-hearted though, we are extremely confident that we will redress the balance next time round.

"The league title this year promises to go right down to the wire with Redbridge still in the mix as well, and we are not going away I assure you, despite today’s result."