MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION
NL RAIDERS A 2 FAITHFOLD A 0

Phil Peters believes Norstar London Raiders A were worthy winners as they continued their relentless charge towards their first-ever title success with a 2-0 victory over defending champions Faithfold A at Brunel.

Having beaten the Superhoops at the beginning of December, Phil Peters' men returned to winning ways with a victory that takes them on to 30 points, thanks to strikes from Josh Green and an own goal.

NLR manager Phil Peters told JC Sport: "It was a much more comfortable victory than the scoreline suggests and it feels fantastic to have completed the double over last year’s champions.

"Faithfold probably edged the possession, but rarely breached our fantastic backline and on the odd occasion they did we dealt comfortably with the threat.

"There was definitely some rustiness on show from both teams and we were fortunate to go ahead through Alex’s own goal, but that gave us the boost we needed and lifted the performance. In the second half we performed much better and despite overloading the Faithfold defence several times our final ball was poor.

"It was great to see Greenie come off the bench and take his goal so well – our strength in depth is quite frightening this year and every time one of the subs comes on the pitch they know they need to make an impact. Curling the ball round Ben Law and into the top corner from the edge of the area is one way to do that!

"We move on to what will hopefully be a straightforward cup-tie against Haroldeans next week, but as always we’ll take nothing for granted."

Faithfold boss Zuriel Solomon disagreed with Peters' post-match analysis and believes his players deserved something from the game. "Our performance was OK - I thought we controlled the game, but maybe not enough to actually win it," he told JC Sport.

"We had a lot of energy but sometimes lacked a bit of creative spark. Raiders have a good youthful team and being leaders they must be doing something right.

"Definitely over the 90 minutes we were the better team and at least deserved a draw."