By
James Martin
1 min read
JC MSFL Premier Division:
North West Neasden B 3
Brady Maccabi 0
Brady manager Simon Hakim was left bemoaning a controversial offside decision which effectively cost his side any hope of getting a result against a strong looking NWN B.
With just five minutes of the first-half remaining, and with his side already trailing 1-0, Neasden’s Bruno Frankel was played into the penalty area and slotted underneath Oliver Colmans. Despite taking a minute to confer with his assistant, referee Nigel Burns awarded the goal, sparking heavy protests from the Brady team.
Hakim said: “I think the old adage about goals changing games applies here. We were competing well up to that point. The player himself admitted he was in an offside position afterwards, but it’s difficult for the referee to always get it right.”
Hakim’s side started well in what was billed as the grudge match of the season, with Neasden eager to prove they were none the poorer for having lost five players to Brady over the summer.
A dangerous inswinging corner from Brady’s Andrew Shuster caused problems for a makeshift Neasden back-four, with only a goalline clearance preventing the away side from taking an early lead.
But it was Neasden who took the lead after 27 minutes with Alex Bowman sprinting through from the right and slotting home. Frankel scored the controversial second when Brady failed to spring the offside trap
The visitors started the second half brightly, but their hopes of getting back into the game dimmed just before the hour when Neasden old boy Josh Rosenfield was seriously injured after damaging his knee in a block-tackle. The midfielder, who was later examined by ambulancemen, had to be helped off by teammates as the match was delayed.
The third goal arrived 15 minutes from time when Bradley Sharp’s curling free-kick was spilled by Colmans, allowing Bowman to tap home. He blew his hat-trick, hitting the post from the spot after Colmans brought down substitute Stevie Krein.
Neasden’s joint-managers are delighted with the progress of their side. Sammy Carr said: “We’ve put a new team together and we can only get better. We’ve been written off by some but this result shows we’re right in the title hunt.” Ryan Glynne felt that, once his side got ahead, there was only one result in prospect: “For the first 20 minutes they were quicker out the traps. But once we scored we looked comfortable and it was a solid performance. We scored goals at key times.”
Neasden: Bloom; Glynne (sub: Springer), Bloch, Bentwood, Hodes; Bowman, Daggers, Bord, Frankel, Sharp (sub: Castle), Sher (sub: Krein)
Brady: O. Colmans, Lassman, Meltzer, Harvey, Velleman, Shuster, Sidi (sub: J. Colmans), Platt, Winton, Rosenfield (sub: Gordon), Lerner
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