Sport
Gershfield revels in derby delight
James Gershfield praised his Lions White team after they completed the comeback of the season in an MGBSFL derby thriller.
October 10, 2017 08:53
James Gershfield praised his Lions White team after they completed the comeback of the season in an MGBSFL derby thriller.
October 10, 2017 08:53MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION
MACCABI LONDON LIONS WHITE 4 MACCABI LONDON LIONS BLUE 3
The Whites looked dead and buried inside 20 first-half minutes as the Blues flew out of the traps to lead 3-0 with strikes from Adam Abadi, Daniel Fattal and Jono Gaon.
"The passion and determination to put things right was a pleasure to watch," according to Gershfield and two goals before half-time from skipper Ben Lampert and Kiki Levin handed them a lifeline.
At half-time the message was "to simply keep doing what they had been doing for the last part of the first half and that’s exactly what they did".
The Whites continued to play on the front foot in the second half and equalised through Lampert’s second of the game.
An extraordinary contest at Rowley Lane then saw the Whites complete their comeback when Josh Weiner made it 4-3 with 25 minutes remaining. Youngster Tyler Smith put in an extremely mature performance and assisted all four goals.
The Whites were really put to the test with about 15 minutes to go when Lampert was sent off but his team-mates "responded magnificently to the decision and the reshuffle and defended brilliantly".
There was still more drama to come when in the 94th minute the referee awarded Lions Blue a penalty and the opportunity to nick a draw. Alex Taylor was also sent off and they were down to nine. Jordan Sharifian made his debut in net today and I’m sure it will be a debut he will never forget and his unbelievable spot-kick save sparked scenes of jubilation as the final whistle sounded just after the spot-kick.
Gershfield told JC Sport: "From number 1 to number 14 we were excellent. There is a real belief around the camp that our season has now started with back to back wins and we go into next weeks game with huge confidence. I guess the ‘so called A team’ put the record straight today."