A sensational eight-goal salvo from Scott Shulton inspired Maccabi GB Futsal to their first win of the season as they blasted their way past London United.
MGBFl made the short trip to Willesden to face London United at the Capital City Academy on Sunday. A tough start had seen MGBF lose their opening four games against the top teams in the league, including some hefty losses.
Although confidence was not at its highest, this was only the second time this season where the side have had close to their strongest outfit. This gave renewed optimism to MGBF’s chances.
Jonathan Cohen, the founder of Maccabi GB Futsal in the National League, was assisting player/manager Jon Kurrant and it was his drive which was another catalyst for what was about to unfold.
The game kicked off 45 minutes late and, on a very tight court, London were soon in the ascendency. Barely two minutes had been accrued on the clock and the home side had gone 2-0 up.
It was becoming apparent that MGBF were struggling to get used to the tight dimensions of the court. Gradually, the decision-making and movement of the MGBF players improved, and Alex Olcot and Kurrant were beginning to get upfield, with some good interplay and possession. This culminated in several free-kicks for MGBF as Kurrant and Shulton were continuously being fouled.
A mistake from the London Utd goalkeeper, who dropped his goal-throw and picked it up again, resulted in an indirect free-kick to the right of the London goal. Olcot teed up Kurrant and he disguised a back-post pass to Shulton who crashed the ball in-off the bar to halve the deficit.
Moments later, Shulton blocked a telling pass and down the right hand channel with power before blasting his effort high into the right-hand corner to level the scores.
MGBF were back in the game and creating chances at will. It seemed they had gotten to grips with the court and what their opponents were presenting offensively. This saw them take the lead moments later. Another foul meant a 10m penalty to MGB very early on in the game. Jordan Davidson, usually a ‘keeper but playing outfield, stroked his 10m penalty effortlessly into the bottom left hand corner.
MGBF had turned the game on its head only 10 minutes in, taking a 3-2 lead.
Aviel Schwarz, Adam Bernstein, Kurrant and Olcot were dominant and creating chances. However, on the 13th minute, Kurrant blocked a shot on the line which went out for a corner, only for the referee to inexplicably award a penalty for ‘handball’. To further frustrate the MGBF player/manager, he was sent off for the second time this season. To make matters worse, London scored the resultant penalty and the scores were once again level.
The MGBF response was magnificent. Straight from the restart, brilliant play from Gideon Barnett down the left and a subsequent pull-back allowed Schwarz to smash the ball home to make it 4-3.
MGBF then extended their lead by two. Another foul meant another penalty to the Community’s top Futsal side. However, Davidson smashed the ball into the keeper’s face and it was kept out. Moments later, Shulton capitalised on yet another London infringement, converting a 10m penalty to complete his hat-trick.
London rallied superbly, scoring two more goals, Shulton showed ice-cool composure to crack home a brace of 10m penalties after some ill-discipline from London to leave the half-time scoreline 7-5 in MGBF's favour.
MGBF did not let up after the break. London came out power-playing and MGBF held firm with some more outstanding defending. When trying to force the play, London gifted Shulton the ball and, from in his own half, he guided the ball into the empty net with consumate ease.
London then started to move the ball faster, with more tempo in the power-play, and managed to wrong-foot the defence to get within two again.
Wave after wave of pressure was coming from the London attack, with Lipman parrying save after save, with two blocks in particular in the ‘top-class’ category.
However, MGBF scored a crucial ninth goal, arguably against the run of play. Jamie Bernstein's shot was deflected for a corner. There was no visible option for Davidson except to smash the ball across the area. Barnett muscled his way in front of his marker and volleyed the ball past the ‘keeper to once again raise the goal tally.
Olcot then joined the party, scoring at the back-post after great work from Shulton to gain an unassailable 10-6 ... or so MGBF thought.
London continued to battle, grabbing two goals back in a kamikaze game full of intensity, before Shulton put the game to bed with his seventh and eighth goals of the match.
In terms of man-of-the-match performances, the obvious mention goes to Shulton who had a slow start but managed to single-handedly claw MGBF into a winning position. But special mentions to Lipman in the MGB net and to the rest of the team who pulled together brilliantly to keep out the London United onslaught.
The return fixture is next week, as London United visit MGB at SportHouse, kicking off 4pm. It promises to be a cracker.
GOAL-SCORERS
Shulton x8 (EIGHT)
Davidson
Olcot
Barnett
Schwarz
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SQUAD:
1 Dan Lipman
2 Jordan Davidson
3 Alex Olcot
5 Adam Bernstein
7 Jamie Bernstein
8 Scott Shulton (c)
11 Gideon Barnett
12 Jon Kurrant
14 Aviel Schwarz
