BARRY GOLDSTEIN TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL
LOS BLANCOS 4 LONDON ROVERS 3 AET
SIMON MOSES was the hat-trick hero as Blancos avoided an upset against Division Three champions London Rovers.
A tightly contested game was won by a hatrick of penalties by our our top scorer Simon Moses, with the last one arriving in extra time.
A first Blancos goal for Danny Steel worth mentioning, a screamer from 1.5 (yes, one.five) yards.
Akiva Zneimer, Josh Bharier and Yosh Silverman found the net for Rovers.
Blancos boss Jonathan Ison told JC Sport: "With only 11 regular players, plus a bench of myself and our chairman, we were really down to our bare bones.
"I have to credit every single player today, as they all gave 100 per cent and many were subject to cramp for the entire extra time and more.
"Rovers missed a couple of glorious chances, and in truth so did we - both teams could have sealed the win in 90 minutes.
"It was a shame how the game was won, as the majority of main decisions (including penalties to both teams) were all fairly controversial, but we are happy we are in the semis and look forward to hopefully getting to Wingate."
Blancos chairman Joel Minsky told JC Sport: "It was one of our poorest performances of the season, with one of our poorest squads too - the fact the gaffer and chairman had to come on says it all!
"It would be a push to say we were worthy winners, but we did well to come back from deservedly being two down at the break. A match-winning hat-trick of penalties from Simon Moses certainly papered over the cracks today."
Rovers manager Jeremy Brown told JC Sport: "I've had to think very carefully about what to say about this game. Firstly, I want to congratulate my team for outplaying an established Division One 1 side. We were the better team today and I just can't believe we've lost the game.
"We must have missed around 20 clear-cut chances, some easy enough for a two-year-old to score, but as the saying goes, if you don't put away your chances.
"The other point I'm going to make is regarding the fact that they scored three penalties today. I haven't complained about referees all season and I don't want to start now, but what I will say is that there are clearly a few referees in the league that are more capable than others and on a weekly basis these more capable referees are given the important fixtures.
"I know there were a few fixtures today that didn't have much meaning and we have played a quarter-final of a cup competition. I think the Referees' Secretary needs to have a careful think about which referees get selected for these important games. I'm not even sure any Blancos players even claimed for any of their penalties and to be quite honest, our penalty was a foul outside the area.
"I feel like we've lost on penalties because quite frankly, other than their penalties and free-kick which they scored from I don't think they had any more than another couple of chances to score. But as I said, we should have had the game wrapped up in 90."
