Oakwood A will face defending champions North London Raiders A in the final of the Cyril Anekstein Cup after coming through their respective semi-finals against Hendon United and FC Team on Matchday 23 of the MGBSFL on a day when Scrabble FC's 100 per cent record was halted by a strong Maccabi London Lions side.
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WEEKEND COVERAGE:
CUP SEMI-FINAL PHOTOGALLERY - HENDON A vs OAKWOOD A
CUP SEMI-FINAL PHOTOGALLERY - FC TEAM A vs NL RAIDERS A
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LATEST NEWS:
DAVID WOLFF ON THE FUTURE OF THE LEAGUE
DANNY CARO'S ANALYSIS OF MGBSFL MEETING
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE MGBSFL?
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MATCHDAY 23 HEADLINES
CAC - Five-star Oakwood blow Hendon away
Prem Div - Five-star Garfinkle sinks Camden
Div 1 - Fabulous Faithfold chop down Oaks
Div 2 - Lions B hit Scrabble for six
JC HAT-TRICK HEROES
Prem Div - Daniel Garfinkle (Redbridge JC B)
Div 1 - David Fialka (Redbridge JC B), Jono Gaon (Los Blancos)
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DANNY CARO'S MATCHDAY 23 AWARDS
MANAGERS OF THE WEEK - DAN KRISTALL & RIC BLANK
SAVE OF THE WEEK - NICK WALLIS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK - SAMUEL MARCHANT
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JC TEAM OF THE WEEK: THE CONTENDERS
GK - Reuben Rabstein (ML Lions A), Jonny Blain (Oakwood A), Scott Shear (Redbridge JC B)
DEFENDERS - Sam Deaner (Athletic Bilbaum), Scott McKenzie (Redbridge JC B), Nick Landesberg, Daniel Behar (both ML Lions B), Josh Pistol (NL Raiders A), Nick Wallis (SPEC FC), Alex Lee (Oakwood A)
MIDFIELDERS - Brad Wine, Kyle Bentwood (both Oakwood A), Daniel Goldhill (Athletic Bilbaum), Daniel Bean (Redbridge JC B), Elliott Espinoza (Scrabble FC), Elias Cohen, Jake Hyman, Charlie Cohen (all ML Lions B), Ben Joseph, Ricky Engleman (both NL Raiders A), Jacob Symons (FC Team C)
STRIKERS - Sam Cantor (Oakwood A), Daniel Garfinkle (Redbridge JC B), David Fialka (Redbridge JC B), James Gold (ML Lions A), Jono Gaon (Los Blancos), Josh Bloom (ML Lions B), Jordan Marks (NL Raiders A)
MANAGERS - Dan Kristall, Ric Blank & Alex Schock (Oakwood A), Rob Richman (NL Raiders A), Samuel Marchant (ML Lions B), Sam Rank,Richie Caplin, Johan Simberg (all Redbridge JC B)
REFEREE - David Lazarus (RJC A vs Camden Park)
Email nominations to dcaro@thejc.com
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DANNY CARO'S GOAL OF THE WEEK
WINNER: - CHARLIE COHEN (ML Lions B) - Daniel Behar played the ball in to Jake Hyman on the left flank at the halfway line, he then flicked it up and knocked it over the opposing player, took it down and played a beautiful reverse pass to Bloom. Bloom on the left side of the box squared up his man and rounded him and unselfishly squared the ball to the arriving Charlie Cohen for the tap in. Truly sensational football
2nd: SIMON DAVIES (Oakwood A) - excellent flowing move was capped off by a brilliant rising shot
3rd: ED GREEN (Athletic Bilbaum) - Rob Rodney played a perfect ball slicing through Faithfold the centre backs; Green ran through, took the ball around the keeper and slid the ball into the empty net to break the deadlock
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JC SAVE OF THE WEEK: THE CONTENDERS
- JONNY BLAIN (Oakwood A) - superb save to keep out a shot from Zac Lewis
- JOSH GERTNER (Los Blancos) - an outstanding double save that was potentially one of the saves of the decade, let alone the week
- SCOTT SHEAR (Redbridge JC B) - breathtaking double save with two minutes to go. The Sosobad striker shot, which was terrifically saved by RJC B keeper, and then reacted again to save the rebound. Just outstanding goalkeeping
- NICK WALLIS (SPEC FC) - the greatest goal line clearance ever witnessed
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JC QUOTE OF THE WEEK: THE CONTENDERS
- JON ISON (Los Blancos) - "The game was not pretty at times, with the wind not helping matters, but the second half certainly wasn't boring! The major positive is that it was great to see Jono back amongst the goals"
- JASON STEIN (Oakwood B) - "We'll have to lift ourselves off the floor now in what is seemingly a league no-one wants to win"
- SAMUEL MARCHANT (ML Lions B) - "We made a team with such an amazing league record look distinctly average, and their really was a gulf in class between the sides on the day. It was a big result for us as we want the promotion spot, and with 10 games to go, everything is in our hands"
- RAY ABRAHAMS (Scrabble FC) - "Well I haven't found Rowley Lane a happy hunting ground for us because back a few months we got hammered by Brady in the cup and today we suffered our first defeat of the season 6-1 losing our 100 per cent record to Lions in the league"
- JON JACOBS (Redbridge JC A) - "Turning up with 10 players and seeing a player pull a hamstring after 10 seconds is not conducive to producing a game but fair play to Camden, they gave as good as they could"
- DAN KRISTALL (Oakwood A) - QUOTE 1 - "What a day that was and the cameras were there to capture it. An outstanding display against a full-strength Hendon side. Our first victory over them and their first defeat at Hadley for three years"
- DAN KRISTALL (Oakwood A) - QUOTE 2 - "Good luck Hendon in the rest of the league season. I am sure David will rally his troops and we may even meet them in the Morrison later in the season. I am sure they will bounce back as they have too many good players not to"
- DAVID GARBACZ (Hendon A) - QUOTE 1 - "Without wishing to take any of the credit away from Oakwood this was undoubtedly the worst Hendon performance in many a year. Coming as it did in a semi-final that we had fought so heroically to be playing in made it even more disappointing"
- DAVID GARBACZ (Hendon A) - QUOTE 2 - "Everyone connected to Hendon needs to shoulder some responsibility - perhaps this type of defeat against a team like this was inevitable as the likes of strong leaders such as Josh Lipman and The Bentleys and Motti Colman have left over the years - we really could have done with some of their competitiveness today"
- DAVID GARBACZ (Hendon A) - QUOTE 3 - "I really hope Oakwood go on to win the final - They totally deserve a trophy after coming so close in recent years - plus in doing so they will stop Raiders winning the treble which no one wants to see!"
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SEE MORE MGBSFL PHOTOGALLERIES
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CUP DRAWS
PETER MORRISON TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
CYRIL ANEKSTEIN FINAL
North London Raiders A vs Oakwood A
Wingate & Finchley FC
April 17, 2.30pm KO
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YOUR WEEKEND REVIEW STARTS HERE:
CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP SEMI-FINALS
FIVE-STAR OAKWOOD BLOW HENDON AWAY
HENDON UNITED SPORTS CLUB A 0 OAKWOOD A 5
A deadly double from Sam Cantor helped Oakwood march into the final of the Cyril Anekstein Cup as they blew Hendon away with a ruthless performance at Hadley FC.
Further strikes from Simon Davies, Dan Selwyn and Brad Wine completed rout.
Joint-manager Dan Kristall told JC Sport: "What a day that was and the cameras were there to capture it. An outstanding display against a full-strength Hendon side. Our first victory over them and their first defeat at Hadley for three years."
Hendon manager David Garbacz told JC Sport: "Without wishing to take any of the credit away from Oakwood this was undoubtedly the worst Hendon performance in many a year. Coming as it did in a semi-final that we had fought so heroically to be playing in made it even more disappointing."
DC Prediction: Hendon 2 Oakwood 1 AET
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RAIDERS BOOK WINGATE RETURN
FC TEAM A 1 NORTH LONDON RAIDERS A 3
A brilliant brace from Ricky Engleman guided Raiders past FC Team to book a return trip to Wingate & Finchley.
There was also an own goal at the Ark Academy as Rob Richman's men remain on course for the treble.
Raiders boss Rob Richman told JC Sport: "This was a really superb performance, up there with the best we’ve played all season. To a man we were focused on securing our third consecutive Anekstein cup final and that is exactly what we achieved."
DC Prediction: Team 1 Raiders 3
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MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION
DANNY CARO'S PREM DIV TEAM OF THE WEEK
TOP-SCORERS
21 - Daniel Garfinkle (Redbridge JC A – including 3 for RJC B)
16 - James Gershfield (Harmen)
GLORIOUS GARFINKLE INSPIRES RJC'S HOLY TRINITY
REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE A 7 CAMDEN PARK 1
A sensational five-goal blast from DANIEL GARFINKLE took Redbridge to within five points of leaders Raiders as they seventh heaven.
It was a memorable day for Jon Jacobs' "Holy Trinity" with Dean Nyman and Steve Summers also on target in a one-sided contest at Fairlop.
RJC chief Jon Jacobs told JC Sport: "Turning up with 10 players and seeing a player pull a hamstring after 10 seconds is not conducive to producing a game but fair play to Camden, they gave as good as they could."
DC Prediction: RJC 4 Camden 1
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GOLD HELPS LIONS BACK FROM THE DEAD
HARMEN 2 MACCABI LONDON LIONS A 2
Ben Winters and James Gold helped Lions come from two goals down to take a point after a four-goal thriller against Harmen.
Lions old boy Dominic Cheniart and Oliver Sade struck for Harmen.
Lions joint-manager David Pollock told JC Sport: "We started slowly and played with the handbrake on. Harmen were good and very workmanlike. We got going in the second half and showed more maturity then the first."
DC Prediction: Harmen 1 Lions 1
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DIVISION ONE
TOP-SCORERS
27 - Reiss Mogilner (Brady Maccabi)
17 - Jacob Richler Kleiman (Oakwood B)
GAON STARS IN 10-GOAL THRILLER
LOS BLANCOS 5 FC TEAM B 5
JONO GAON blew a huge hole in FC Team's promotion hopes with a treble in a thrilling 5-5 draw.
The Los Blancos hot-hot took centre stage in an epic contest, with Adam Hersh and Sam Cramer the other marksmen for Blancos.
Richard Salmon, Lorian Madanes, Jon Breger (2) and an own goal accounted for the FC Team strikes.
Blancos boss Jon Ison told JC Sport: "We only have ourselves to blame for not winning this as we had plenty of opportunities to kill the game off, but unfortunately didn't take all our chances."
FC Team manager Mitch Young told JC Sport: "It was a total defensive shambles and the less said about the game the better."
DC Prediction: Blancos 1 Team 3
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FABULOUS FAITHFOLD CHOP DOWN OAKS
OAKWOOD B 0 FAITHFOLD B 3
Oakwood's title hopes hit the buffers at Nicholas Breakspear on a day when two-goal hero Jamie Kent and Ben Portnoi were the goal-scoring heroes in a shock win for struggling Faithfold.
Disappointed Oaks boss Jason Stein told JC Sport: "We were appalling today in the first half and at 3-0 down, it was a big ask against a stronger-than-usual Faithfold.
DC Prediction: Oakwood 4 Faithfold 0
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FIALKA SILENCES NOISY NEIGHBOURS
REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B 4 REAL SOSOBAD 2
DAVID FIALKA inspired Redbridge to derby day delight as they overcame east London rivals Sosobad at Fairlop.
Sam McCarthy and Jamie Crawford registered for Sosobad.
RJC joint-manager Sam Rank told JC Sport: "I could not have asked any more from the boys today. Everyone of the boys came off the pitch knowing that they gave everything they could of, which just shows there commitment they have for the team and club.
Real Sosobad boss Dan Shafron told JC Sport: "Credit to Redbridge, they had a game-plan, a certain tactic and executed it well."
DC Prediction: RJC 2 Sosobad 2
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SUPER SPEC SHOW BRIXTON WHAT FOUR
SPEC FC 4 BRIXTON OLD BOYS 1
SPEC FC returned to winning ways thanks to goals from Craig Cohen, Dan Amram, Elliott Wallis and Ashley Burns.
Brixton's consolation came through Daniel Kuber.
SPEC player-manager Ricky Lawrence told JC Sport: "After playing absolutely terribly in the first half we got our act together in the second and were good value for the victory."
DC Prediction: SPEC 2 Brixton
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DIVISION TWO
TOP-SCORERS
17 - Zak McLeod (Scrabble FC)
15 - Josh Bloom (ML Lions B), Danny Sherman (Scrabble FC)
SCRABBLE FINALLY MEET THEIR MATCH
MACCABI LONDON LIONS B 6 SCRABBLE FC 1
Runaway leaders Scrabble FC finally met their match as they were hit for six by a strong Lions team at Rowley Lane.
Doubles from Charlie Cohen, Jake Hayman and Nick Landesberg completed a memorable morning for the Lions.
Danny Sherman had hauled Scrabble level but their incredible 16-match winning run was a distant memory at the final whistle.
Lions boss Samuel Marchant told JC Sport: "The boys knew what today meant for us, and we fully committed to the game plan we had worked on all week. We know as a team what we are capable of and it truly showed today."
Scrabble boss Ray Abrahams told JC Sport: "We put a strong side out today with Josh Bentley at the heart of the defence but for the first time this season we just weren't at the races."
DC Prediction: Lions 1 Scrabble 2
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THREE CHEERS FOR BILBAUM
FAITHFOLD C 0 ATHLETIC BILBAUM 3
Athletic Bilbaum maintained their excellent run of form to ruin David Garson's return to the MGBSFL with an impressive 3-0 win at the Hive thanks to goals from Jacob Brunner and Ed Green.
Baums manager Nick Shinder told JC Sport: "It was another strong and complete performance with only the battling wind hampering our style."
DC Prediction: Faithfold 2 Bilbaum 3
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COOPER BREAK CATFORD HEARTS
FC TEAM C 4 CATFORD & BROMLEY MACCABI 3
FC Team C won a seven-goal thriller in Harefield thanks to strikes from Eddie Sternberg, Freddie Marks, Jamie Cooper and an own goal.
The Cats, who missed a penalty at 0-0, rallied superbly from 3-0 down at half-time to level, through Jamie Sinai (2) and one from player-manager Jeff Gotch.
FC Team's David Gordon told JC Sport; "We were superb in the first half and could have been more than 3-0 up but we threw away all of our good work within 15 minutes of the second half. We regrouped at 3-3 and, once we went 4-3 up, we did our best to see the game out."
Cats boss Jeff Gotch told JC Sport: "I felt we were by far the better team and should never have lost."
DC Prediction: Team 2 Catford 3
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HENDON UNITED SPORTS CLUB B P L’EQUIPE P
Match postponed - pitch unplayable
