PETER MORRISON TROPHY ROUND THREE
LEEDS MACCABI 1 OAKWOOD A 2
Dave Woolman came back to haunt his former club with the goal that sent Oakwood into round four.
His late strike set up a mouth-watering fourth-round clash against Maccabi London Lions A.
Oakwood had one aim: to win and be in the next round. With a squad stretched to its limit, they were delighted to beat a "fired-up" Leeds side. On a pitch more suited to beach football they put together a competitive squad and in the end had too much for Leeds. They "were definitely" the deserved winners, according to joint-manager Dan Kristall.
As for the game itself, a cagey opening 20 minutes resulted in Oakwood taking the lead through a Kyle Bentwood tap-in. He just evaded the offside trap to slot home and steady the nerves.
That was about as good as it got in a scrappy first half in which neither team put more than three passes together, which was down to the bobbly Roundhay Park surface.
The second half opened in similar fashion with Oakwood going uphill and five minutes into the half, Brad Wine was brought down in the area with "one of the most blatant fouls you are likely ever to see". No penalty, much to the delight of the speechless spectators.
Oakwood knew that the 1-0 scoreline was precarious and in the 73rd minute, Adam Kristall, the brother of Oaks joint-manager Dan, who said he had "the best game I have ever seen him play," put in a cross for Leeds that Richard Black glanced in. It was a really good goal but Leeds’s only effort on target. The crowd were up ...
The next five minutes were key for Oakwood and Leeds panicked. The visitors went up a gear and two minutes after Leeds’s equaliser, a cross into the box landed at Woolman’s feet and he duly slotted home. Woolman had said pre game that he would not celebrate if he scored but the stick that he took for the entire first half led him to a brilliant goal celebration. From there Oakwood saw the game out comfortably.
Oakwood joint-manager Ric Blank told JC Sport: "We know that Leeds really did not want to play us on a good surface and we have no issue with that. There was no grudge between the players as everyone just got stuck into the task at hand.
"But our philosophy is that we want to play games every Sunday on good pitches against good sides. If we get beat then so be it, maybe we’ll learn something. Years ago we learnt a lot from taking a beating from Winston’s Lions side and from Jamie Cole’s Neasden team. It made us stronger I’m certain of it. But we accept that not everyone is like that.
"However, the lack of help we received from the powers-that-be was puzzling. It got to a stage I wondered if we’d be better off withdrawing from the competition to allow it to progress. I won’t go into detail and unlike some (who - I’m not sure) I don’t share private conversations. I’ll just say that I’m delighted we managed to get the game played. For that everyone (the players, the fans and the Morrison committee) should thank Dan Kristall. Undoubtedly he did more than anyone to get the game on."
Blank went on to say: "The Leeds assistant manager said that they won the moral victory . For that we salute them and wish them all the best in the next round of the Peter Moral Trophy.
Kristall added: "In all seriousness, good luck to my former team in their quest to retain the MJSL and Shonn trophies - a double to follow last year's treble. If they hit the heights of Sunday’s battling performance, I see no reason why they won’t achieve this and I look forward to going back to Leeds and watching them pick up silverware in May.
"For us we move on to an even tougher game against Hendon in the Anekstein semi. That should be a cracker."
