MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION
HMH 3 HENDON UNITED SPORTS 3
A late goal from Tom Prais ensured HMH maintained their proud unbeaten record against table-toppers Hendon United in a six-goal thriller at the Hive.
Hendon forged ahead after some great work from Jordan Mizrahi on the right wing who played the ball to Chaim Korman and he crossed toDovi Fehler who got in front of his marker and headed home superbly.
HMH No. 1 Jake Doffman then made a great save from Zack Lewis's strike before HMH levelled following a good break finished off by by HMH top-scorer Oscar Wagner.
With both goalkeepers - Jake Doffman of HMH and Russ Corin of Hendon - in top form, the high-flyers continued to attack with great purpose and it was HMH who went into the break ahead following a bullet header from Ariel Rahamim from a set-piece.
Hendon went into half-time knowing they needed to tighten up a few things and they went out in the second half to grab the game back. Gav Noe replaced Fehler as Hendon boss Jordan Sapler tried to "change things up" and the evergreen Noe almost found his way through after the restart but was denied by another save by Doffman.
Hendon bossed the second half and drew level with a goal of the week contender from the right foot of Avi Korman - Chaim Korman collected the ball wide right and fizzed in a knee high pass to Avi Korman who flicked the ball up and then on the spin volleyed it into the bottom corner from 25 yards out leaving everyone jaw dropped.
Back in the game, Hendon found their confidence level and with Simon Peterman and captain for the day Ari Nevies leading the back-line superbly, they stopped HMH attacks in their tracks. It was one of these attacks which found Chaim Korman once again and he crossed to Zack who made no mistake and fired a rising strike past Doffman.
Hendon continued to threaten as it looked as though HMH had run out of ideas, until another moment of magic. This time the on-rushing
Prais, who had been pushed into midfield, improvised superbly to send a volley into the corner, leaving Corin with no chance.
HMH manager Avi Goldberg reflected on "a game of two halves". He told JC Sport: "It was indeed a great match that lived up to its billing. I thought we edged it in the first half and were worthy of our 2-1 lead but we lost two players to injury towards the end of the first half and that meant we had to play the rest of the match with 11, of which one was then injured as well midway through the second half.
"Not to take anything away from Hendon in the second half as they showed why they are champions as they were superb for 25 minutes and really should have put the result beyond doubt but our goalkeeper Jake Doffman showed all his class and experience which meant that when we started to play again with 15 minutes to go we were only one behind.
"We created four good chances in that remaining period but could only convert two, one being ruled out for offside and the other a beautiful one at that as Prais volleyed home from the edge of the box to make it 3-3. A great advert for MGBSFL."
Hendon boss Jordan Sapler told JC Sport: "What a great game - the first half belonged to HMH who played well and created a number of chances. We defended really well and limited them to a number of half chances.
"There was two possible late talking points when Zack Lewis went done in the box for what looked like a clear penalty and then HMH had a goal disallowed late but I think a draw is a fair result.
"Credit to Avi who has a great bunch of boys - I don’t think there was one malicious tackle in the game. A real credit to both teams and the league as a whole.
"A final note to say that the ref, Phil Peters, and his assistants Neal and Stuart both had a great game and it allowed us to concentrate on the football."
