Jerusalem's Lewis fills his boots

Despite missing three first-team midfielders, Jerusalem went into this fixture confident that their stretched squad would claim maximum points as the league enters the final furlong.

Straight from the off, Jerusalem threatened Rainball's player manager Ron Cohen in goal, but any shot was met by an even better save.

The breakthrough came early on, when Gav Krieger was gifted a free header from Itamar Kornfeld's superb corner, to head in his first goal of the season.

With Rainball looking rather susceptible from crosses, Lewis was able to poke home the easiest of finishes from another cross a few minutes later.

It wasn't long until Jerusalem claimed a third. Another corner from Kornfeld was this time headed in by Zack Lewis, and almost immediately after the restart, three became four, this time Zack Lewis turning provider, as a clever flick found Eyal Toledo to open his account for the season.

Jerusalem kept attacking, but a mixture of quality defending, great goalkeeping and poor finishing, including an open goal, kept the score down. The inevitable fifth came as Moishe Lewis found the extra yard to slip his marker and blast the ball past Cohen for his second of the night.

With the half petering out, an uncharacteristic error from Daniel Boerstra in the Jerusalem goal allowed Yochai Cohen the chance to claim his second goal of the season in only his second appearance for Rainball, the first goal conceded by Jerusalem in 225 minutes of football.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, and two quickfire goals put the game to bed. Zack Lewis provided the perfect pass for Dan Cohen to expertly slot the ball into the corner, and within 60 seconds from the restart, Cohen unselfishly reciprocated to allow Zack Lewis to slot into an empty net for his second, and Jerusalem's seventh.

At 7-1, with just under 40 minutes to go, double figures seemed on the cards again (Jerusalem having scored 11 in the reverse fixture a few months earlier).

But to their credit, Rainball's heads did not drop and they kept trying to get back into the game. With Ron Cohen continuing to frustrate Jerusalem's strikers, Rainball slowly started getting a few opportunities at the other end, and new signing Eliot Tubul capitalised on a defensive error to slot past Boerstra to make it 7-2.

Moishe Lewis completed his hat-trick with just over 10 minutes to go, with another clinical finish to make it 8-2.

Akiva Zneimer almost got his name on the scoresheet, only to be denied by the thickness of the post, but it was Rainball's debutant Tubul who would have the final say, with a great strike in the dying seconds to grab a late consolation.

Jerusalem joint-manager Danny Newman was pleased with the result, but unhappy with the goals conceded. He said: "With no disrespect to Rainball, if we were going to miss three key players, and to make those sloppy mistakes at the back, this was the game to get that out the system.

"Rainball are definitely getting stronger, and the way they tried to get themselves back in the game, even at 7-1 down, is highly commendable. They have made a couple of nice signings, and with a couple more, their first win is surely just around the corner."

Reflecting on the title run in, Newman added, "The next two games will be crucial if we are to have any chance of gate-crashing Ra'anana's title party.

"We have two very tough games. First former champs England FC come to us next week. This is usually a very high-octane game, between the two most decorated sides in Olim football.

"Despite a very poor season by England's standards, they have quality throughout their ranks and have already beaten us earlier on this season.

"The following week, we make the long trip to league leaders Ra'anana. They are a quality side, and deservedly sit seven points clear at the top.

"We have a game in hand, but even that is probably not going to be enough, as even if we were to beat them on their own turf, we would still need them to drop points elsewhere, which is very unlikely, as after our game, they have a far easier run in, facing the bottom three in three of their final four games.

"We will try and keep plugging away to keep the pressure on them, in the hope they make an unexpected slip, but even if we were to win our final six games, we will still most likely fall short of Ra'anana who have not really put a foot wrong all season."

Jerusalem: Daniel Boerstra, Danny Sigal, Dan Kosky, Gav Krieger, Eli Warner, Itamar Kornfeld, Eyal Toledo, Akiva Zneimer, Mordy Weiler, Zack Lewis, Moishe Lewis. Subs: Dan Cohen, Solomon Emeke Eza, David Preston.

Goals: Gav Krieger (12), Moishe Lewis (18, 37, 79), Zack Lewis (22, 52), Eyal Toldeo (24), Dan Cohen (51)

Rainball Tel Aviv: Ron Cohen, Almog Shiloach, Or Ganism, Shai Zalait, Ran Nehoray Hen, Eri Kavdiel, Ori Weisbrod, Noam Siluk, Yochai Cohen, Matan Zohar, Eliot Tubul

Goals: Yochai Cohen (42), Eliot Tubul (73, 90)