MGBSFL DIVISION THREE
AC WHETSTONE 5 CATFORD & BROMLEY MACCABI 1
AC Whetstone joint-manager Clive Nathan hailed his wonder kids after they registered their first-ever victory in the MGBSFL by ending Catford's 100 per cent record with a brilliant performance.
The Greens started quickly, putting pressure on the ball and creating plenty of chances. They opened the scoring after 15 minutes when the Catford defence failed to clear their lines. Philippe Auret capitalised by coolly slotting the ball in at the near post.
Whetstone now had their tails up and quickly doubled their lead through Dan Cohen. Auret, creating now with a ball in from the right found the feet of Cohen who turned on the edge of the box to smash home.
Catford pulled a goal back after 35 minutes. A speculative 30-yard volley smashed against the crossbar, but the Catford striker reacted first to tuck home the rebound.
AC Whetstone restored their two-goal lead on the stroke of half-time, with another goal from Auret. Played through by Toby Nathan, Auret beat the offside trap to have a clear run on goal before slamming the ball into the roof of the net to hit the Cats with a real sucker punch.
The second half started slowly but was sparked into life 20 minutes in when Jonah Gordon-Boyd picked up the ball and drove into the penalty area only to be brought down by an over-zealous challenge. Gordon-Boyd dusted himself off and calmly converted his penalty to give ACW a 4-1 lead.
Only seconds later Gordon-Boyd received the ball from Cohen on the halfway line and proceeded to jink through numerous Catford defenders. His dazzling run was aptly completed by slotting the ball home to double his tally for the day.
With 20 minutes remaining the home side saw out the victory with stellar performances in defence from Noah Bier and Man of the Match Sammy Huberman.
An excellent showing from Whetstone saw them run the league leaders ragged and take home their first three points of the season.
"I was delighted with the boys performance," Whetstone co-boss Clive Nathan told JC Sport. "A team made up entirely of 16-year-old's showed a team spirit; will to win and pure footballing ability way beyond their years.
"Last time it was our very first game of senior football and we were nervous. We played without a regular keeper and lacked composure in front of goal. We also made poor decisions in defence. Today we put all that right."
There was also a goal from Dan Cohen as Whetstone found their shooting boots, much to the delight of Nathan.
Joel Isaacs registered for the Cats.
Nathan, who runs the team together with Anthony Cohen, went on to say: "We played a slightly different formation today but formations don't win games - players do. Since this group of boys were six we have tried to play decent football and some times you get beaten doing that. Today we created a lot of chances and took five of them.
"Since our formation in 2004 our aims have always been the same: to end the season with the boys wanting to play again and to see them improve. We know after four games that we are enjoying senior football.
"All credit to Catford today who continued to play in the right way until the end. We are also very grateful to get strong refs each week and today Adam Yuchetel had a very good game."
Catford manager Lester Jacobs told JC Sport: "All credit to Whetstone. They’re clearly developing into a very good side since we beat them 4-1 just a few weeks ago."
Cats midfielder Gary Hill added: "We were way below our recent form so this one we’ll just have to put down as being a bad day at the office."
