PETER MORRISON TROPHY QUARTER-FINAL
Hendon United Sports Club A 8 Hyde Park Rovers 1
Hendon A boosted their treble hopes with a thumping 8-1 win over MJSL outfit Hyde Park Rovers in an afternoon kick-off at Hadley FC.
Doubles from Avidan Last, Ari Last, Yoav Kestenbaum plus one apiece from Josh Bentley and Dovid Korman set up a semi-final against Brady A.
Hendon manager David Garbacz told JC Sport: "We did not quite know what to expect with Hyde today, so our main concentration was on making sure we played to the best of our own abilities and to get off to a fast start in order that they would not be able to grow in confidence.
"We achieved that aim to the full - hardly letting them out of their own half for 45 minutes and raced into a 5-0 half time lead with some excellent team goals and precise finishing.
"In the second half we let up slightly and I have to give Hyde credit for never giving up and running themselves into the ground for the whole 90 minutes.
"Ultimately though it was a very comfortable win and everyone played their part today and it was good to see five different names on the scoresheet. I sincerely hope there are no traffic hold-ups on the M1 tonight back to Leeds as that would complete a trying day for the Uni boys.
"We are fast approaching the business end of the season and there is no doubt that Brady will be our main obstacle to real success. If we can get the better of them over the four times we now need to play them then I'm sure the champagne corks will start popping towards the end of April."
Rovers boss David Domb was blown away by the quality of the Hendon team, describing them as "simply outstanding".
He told JC Sport: "You can see why they’re probably going to win everything, because they really were that good.
"They don't do anything flash. They simply do all the good things in football and they were simply too good for us.
"But even at 5-0 down at half-time, my team never gave up and kept fighting all the way.
"They kept going, battled hard and stuck at it and they deserve great credit for that."
Despite the heavy defeat, Domb remains proud of his side and says he'll never forget their run to the quarter-final stage.
"For an MJSL university side to get to the quarter-finals of the Peter Morrison Trophy is a huge achievement," he added.
"We were one of the lowest ranked teams to take part in the tournament and what we’ve done is fantastic.
"I had the best result of my time in football when we beat Shirley Park in the last round and I’ll never forget that."
