CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP ROUND TWO
MACCABI LONDON LIONS 16 SCRABBLE FC A 0
This looked like a walk in the park for the Lions as soon as the draw had been made, with Scrabble going into the game with nine consecutive league defeats to their name.
It's no secret that manager Ray Abrahams has been struggling for numbers this season, and the Scrabble boss admitted he "was in two minds whether or not to pull the fixture". He told JC Sport: "With the season we’ve had, the prospect of facing Lions in the Cup was a game we could have done without."
But play the game they did. "We registered eight new players in the build-up to the game, so in some ways the result was irrelevant to us. Sixteen boys turned up and considering that most of them only met at 9.20am this morning and didn’t know each other’s names, we needed to take a look at everyone and used the game as a training/practice session constantly rolling on and off players so we could see what they could do."
Mogilner, who had scored 10 goals in the MGBSFL Premier Division and Cyril Anekstein Cup prior to kick-off, filled his boots for the Lions. DANIEL GREEN and MICHAEL KENLEY scored a hat-trick apiece, while further strikes from Ed Brafman, David Dinkin and Adam Hassanali completed the rout.
Lions joint-manager Max Kyte told JC Sport: "We wanted to make sure we were sharp and focused from the off and had an aim to put the game to bed as quickly as possible. We know in a cup game anything is possible.
"The boys were great and mature throughout, working hard throughout the full 90 and trying to play as good football as possible."
Kyte offered some reassuring words to the visitors. "Credit to Scrabble," he said. "They never let their heads go down and stuck together as a team for the whole game, coming close on a couple of occasions, including hitting the bar."
Abrahams went on to say: "Lions had a very very strong side out and just got on with it.
"The positives...Most of the new boys are onboard now and when we return to League action against a team from our own Division they will be a very useful asset in our late bid to climb the table.
"Lions were however on a different planet to us today and it was like watching Man City play Leyton Orient! You always know any game against Lions is a mountain to climb but today we used the game to see the new players and I now know my strongest squad going forward.
"We’ve worked so hard to keep things afloat this season and won’t give it up.
"I'm still hopeful ... we’ve now got seven Cup Finals left, that's 21 points to play for to stay in Division One. I'm convinced the great escape is now there for us to grasp and we have to make sure we start picking up the points we need to pull ourselves clear of the bottom two places."
