MGBSFL DIVISION ONE
LOS BLANCOS 5 REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B 4
Joel Kutner's late strike saw Redbridge B suffer a case of title jitters as they failed to clinch the title after going down in a nine-goal thriller against Blancos.
Whilst the game wasn't quite the quality you'd expect from a game between the champions-elect and a LB side making a late surge up the table, it was certainly an entertaining contest.
The two best goals of the game came very early on from the right foot of Heynes. The expert way they were both finished, makes it all the more surprising that they were his first and second goals of the season. Heynes was put through with a sumptuous ball over the top to take him clear of the Redbridge backline. Despite being of his first touches of the game, he calmly lifted the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper to put LB 1-0 up.
If the first goal showed composure, the second was all about class. Tim was again the recipient of another beautiful crossfield pass, this time courtesy of Svi Freedman, before taking a few touches to bring the ball under control. Heynes then dispatched a shot of the highest quality, from outside the area across the goal. The sprawling keeper looked on hopelessly as the ball powered past him, before kissing the far post and pinging across the goal again before nestling in by the near corner.
Redbridge got themselves back in the game, slightly against the run of play, with a header from a set-piece, before an exchange of penalties saw Los Blancos take the lead 3-2 at half time. Simon Moses had to take his penalty twice to put LB 3-1 up at the time, due to the linesman flagging for encroachment.
Redbridge started the second half very strongly, knowing three points was needed to take the league trophy back to Essex, and got what they deserved finishing a good team move to make it all square at 3-3 with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Up until this point Los Blancos had struggled to put any real second half pressure on the Redbridge defence, but made the most of the gaps being left at the back as Redbrige sought a fourth goal to win them the league. LB counter attacked down the right again, and another lovely through ball was played into the path of Moses as he burst into the penalty area. The full-back tracking back with him found himself the wrong side of Moses, and took him down just as he was about to dispatch his shot. Moses dusted himself off and scored the resulting penalty, to put LB 4-3 up with 10 left on the clock.
LB didn't hold on to the lead for long, and once again gave Redbridge hope as they failed to clear their lines from a corner. The ball was eventually fired in from close range to bring the game into an exciting climax with the scores now at 4-4.
As the game moved into injury time, Los Blancos lost the ball just outside the Redbridge penalty box. With the defender looking to usher the ball out of play, Moses cunningly used his upper body strength, to not once, but twice, stop the ball going out of play to keep the ball deep in Redbridge territory. As he held the ball up near the corner flag whilst holding off two defenders, Joel Kutner found himself running into space in the box. Moses somehow managed to pick him out, and Kutner raced in to slot the ball under the onrushing keeper to score the winner.
RJC's goals came via Daniel Garfinkle, Adam Goldman, Matt Niman and Jordan Sapler.
Los Blancos chairman Joel Minsky told jC Sport: "Having played Redbridge twice earlier in the season, and in all honesty getting nowhere near to them, today's performance shows how far we've come since October.
"I still feel Redbridge will be worthy league winners, so the deserved result was a real testament to a strong team performance across the pitch.
"Whilst we're thrilled at taking three points off the champions elect, it's added a further level of frustration following our defeat to bottom club Brixton last week. That loss effectively ended our late promotion charge, but at least we've moved on from our worst performance of the season to our best in the space of a week."
Minsky, who was standing in for manager Jonathan Ison, "dedicated the result to Jon and Judith's first child; Talia Yael Ison".
Blancos: Grosse, Cramer, Barnett, Israel, Waters, Heynes, Russell, Davis, Freedman, Hersh, Moses
