Watford League U18s Purple Division
Stonegrove Park U18s 2 Pinner JFC U18 0
Stonegrove Park Under 18 earned a deserved 2-0 victory over a Pinner team who were playing their first match of the season.
Stonegrove Park started brightly and created most of the relatively few chances. They forged ahead 10 minutes into the first half with a goal direct from Noah Style’s well-flighted corner.
When Pinner did finally break down Stonegrove’s defence, they found stand in goal keeper Barnaby Powell in brilliant form with a goal stopping save at full stretch with his feet.
The second half started badly for Stonegrove when debutant Josh was given a second yellow card, but Stonegrove carried on and the 10 men of Stonegrove Park played valiantly.
Both sides rode their luck a bit, Pinner missing wide when clean through and Alex Meredith hitting the bar from 30 yards.
Fantastic defending from Seb Davidoff, Ben Kreiger, Joe Myers and Sam Ebner kept Pinner at bay plus a great save from goalie David Hirschowitz.
Central midfield was marshalled by captain, Alex Chaimo and man of the match Paul Cotter was end to end.
The two lads broke up Pinner’s play with reassuring ease. On the right side of midfield Daniel Lande was a constant threat.
In the end it was left to the substitutes Joel Bernbaum and Daniel Fattal to finish the game off. Bernbaum creating several good chances before Fattal scored with a beauty from just outside the penalty area, beautifully placed in the left hand bottom corner.
Stonegrove Park manger Kevin Bernbaum said: "It was an excellent all round team performance – our first clean sheet and huge team effort."