Steve Bentwood will spend this weekend basking in the Spanish sunshine but the Manchester Maccabi 3rd boss is adamant his stars won't be caught having a mid-season siesta.
Bentwood’s young guns edged a tightly-contested encounter against Republic of Mancunia 2nd courtesy of Sam Calmonson’s solitary strike.
Maccabi are not in action again until October 2 when they face strugglers Leeds Maccabi 3rd but Bentwood is adamant he won't be hitting the Rioja any time soon.
“It’s a great start but we’ve got our feet firmly on the floor,” he said.
“The best thing is that we’ve only conceded one goal in four games and that’s really pleasing.
“The game against Republic was a very tough one and they were quite physical which made it difficult for us.
“But it was a really determined performance with Sheldon Lee, Marc Magid and Mark Sheldon using their experience.
“Those three are invaluable to us and they’re worth really came through.”
But Raffi Hasid, standing in for Republic 2nd boss Paul Levy, says his team deserved at least a point after dominating for long periods.
“We should have won the game with the chances we had but a draw would have been a fair result,” he said.
“They scored a very good goal to be fair but we just couldn’t score and we had a lot of possession.
“It was a tight game but it just shows that there isn’t really very much between the top teams.”
Meanwhile, second place Haroldeans cruised to a third win in as many matches following a crushing 7-1 victory over Broughton.
Dynamic duo Bobby Abrams and Josh Silverberg scored two apiece, while Simon Gould, Cabral Christian and Alistair Goldsmith all got in on the act.
The Merseysiders face Oakhill on Sunday and boss Ivan Gee is hoping his side can claim the three points which will catapult them to the top of the table.
“The boys are playing some really good football and it’s been a great start to the season,” he said.
“It’s Oakhill’s first game so we’re not too sure what to expect. It could be a very difficult game so we need to be at our best.”
Ten-man Republic of Mancunia 1st came from behind to claim a point in a dramatic draw against Sporting JLGB.
Anthony Jacobs was given his marching orders after just 10 minutes but James Hilton’s strike gave Stuart Shapiro’s men the lead.
But Sporting fought back with goals from Rafi Bloom and Saul Davies before Daniel Hope rescued a point for Republic.
“It’s a game we should have won but playing with 10 men for so long it was good to get a point,” said boss Shapiro.
Elsewhere, Crumpsall’s miserable run of form continued as they went down 4-1 against South Manchester 2nd.
Oli Black grabbed a hat-trick and David Tuck was also on target as Neil Collins’ men eased to victory with Harrison Kaufman netting a consolation.
