LONDON FA SUNDAY COUNTY CUP ROUND ONE

OAKWOOD A 3 HENDON UTD SPORTS CLUB 1

Goals from Tom Cantor, Simon Davies and Sam Cantor set up a second-round tie against Vista.

Oakwood joint-manager Daniel Kristall told JC Sport: "This was a fine performance proving how good our squad really is. Hendon may turn round and say they experimented and haven't played in three weeks but neither have we! We were also able to use our squad to its max."

After a cagey opening, Oakwood scored a fine goal when Toby Levy got down the left and delivered a superb cross to Simon Davies to nod home from six yards.

Before long, it was 2-0 when Tom Cantor scored, tapping home from a corner.

Although Oaks keeper Dean Caplin didn't have a save to make in the first half, Hendon made a real fist of it and they caught Oakwood out from the first whistle in the second half when they flew out the traps. For 25 minutes they dominated the ball and Oakwood couldn't get out of their own half.

Avi Korman halved the deficit early on with a fine strike, Caplin made some big saves and the key moment of the match was Ari Last's 20-yard strike against the underside of the bar after about 70 minutes.

From that moment on, Hendon ran out of steam and Oakwood's superior fitness told. Sam Cantor scored a fine third goal after some hard work and closing down by David Woolman. Woolman went on to hit the bar and Cantor the post in the closing stages.

Kristall went on to say: "Sometimes, you have to win ugly and this performance showed a different side to our game. We dug in, battled through a tough spell in the second half and got the win.

"This cup is an unknown to us and we will thrive the challenge in the next round against Vista. 

"As for the league, this sort of win against a title rival sets a real statement. Hendon will be right up there in the final shake up and we look forward to doing battle again as the season progresses. Our recent record against them is outstanding though. This was our fourth straight win.

"We now put all our focus into catching up on some league games starting with a very tough test against the leaders Brady.

Hendon boss Greg Corin told JC Sport: "The cup gave us a chance to experiment and get in some much-needed fitness. We hope that we can take the positives from the game. We've struggled for players so far this season and also had opposition teams call off games three weeks in a row, so it's not the start we wanted but once we get a run of games we will be back to our best."