CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP QUARTER-FINAL

NORTH LONDON RAIDERS A 1 OAKWOOD A 3

Oakwood moved ominously into the next round as they returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-1 win over Raiders, thanks to an own goal David Woolman and a stunning goal of the week contender from star man Josh Cuby.

The visitors stormed into an early two-goal lead inside 15 minutes. Josh Cuby, who along with James Frener were the stand-out players on the pitch, worked tirelessly. Cuby caused problems for the Raiders right-back throughout, setting up the own goal after a run down the left.

Woolman doubled Oakwood's lead before Raiders halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time via Josh Goldstein’s brilliant header.

This gave Raiders the momentum in the first 15-20 minutes of the second half but other than one very good chance, they didn't create too much.

Oakwood then changed things around after this spell to give them a more solid look and Kristall "felt that worked". 

Livewire Cuby curled in the Oakwood's third 10 minutes from time. Kristall commented: "You won't see a better goal all weekend. He was unplayable at times."

Kristall told JC Sport: "Once we scored the third, we really should have killed it with two or three big chances to make the scoreline much more convincing.

"That was a big big win. We worked hard, battled as a team, used the squad and got the job done. We really needed a win like that.

"Having said that, Raiders also kept going and Joe Botchin made a couple of great saves. Full credit to Raiders because they came out fighting after half-time.

"Having recalled plenty of experienced players for the game, I am sure they will turn their season around. They have too many good players to not do that.

"I felt by the end, the best team won the game. Especially given the chances that we missed.

"We now focus on two big league games before the break. It's an open run in this year which is great for the league. Lots of teams can take points off each other. 

"As for this Cup, we can look forward to a big semi-final in the new year."

NLR boss Dan Shafron told JC Sport: "Similar to last week, I felt like we were unlucky today. We conceded two silly early goals despite not really looking under threat and we created some good chances.

"Josh's goal gave us plenty of confidence going into the second half and we had plenty of chances to score but couldn’t put the ball in the net.

"Oakwood’s third goal was good enough to win any game of football at even the highest level and we just couldn’t find a reply.

"Despite the loss, our performances are getting far better and there are plenty of signs that if we continue to play how we’ve played the last two weeks against Hendon and Oakwood, we can easily turn our season around."

RAIDERS: Adam Zaidman, Rob Blackman,  Zack Neiman, David Rhodes, David Cohen, Dave Esterkin, Josh Goldstein, Adam Joselyn, Ben Joseph, Alex Kaye, Oscar Wagner. Subs: Oren Sheldon, Jake Gilbert

SCORER: Goldstein

OAKWOOD: Joe Botchin, Kyle Bentwood, Dale Bradman, Alex Lee, Sam Cantor, Josh Cuby, Jake Frener, Ben Loofe, Jake Norton, Daniel Seligman, David Woolman. Subs: Zack Collins, Simon Davies, Jonny Quinn

SCORERS: Own goal, Woolman, Cuby