Defending champions Haroldeans face an uphill struggle to retain the MJSL title after suffering a second defeat of the season.

The Merseysiders went down 3-2 at Manchester Maccabi 3rd to leave them nine points off the top.

And while the Liverpool side have three games in hand, they will need to reproduce the kind of form which catapulted them to glory last year.

In the end, it was Jack Myers’ hat-trick which did the damage and allowed Maccabi 2nd to move into third.

Adam Cross and Jacob Nevitt were both on target for Haroldeans, who are now fourth in the table.

Meanwhile, Republic of Flixton eased to a 5-0 win over Broughton to stay in touch at the top.

Dan Garman scored twice with Saul Shapiro, Rob Jacobs and Daniel Ailion also on the scoresheet.