FOOTBALL IN BRIEF
Darryl Lee, the manager of South Manchester Sports 1st, is confident his team can recover to win the title following a crushing 5-1 defeat against Mace in the Accountants League Premier Division. Trailing at half-time, top-scorer Adam Lavin put South back on level terms early in the second half, but missing several key players, they fell apart in the last 40 minutes.
Lee said: “The best team won but I like the fact that the Mace manager was celebrating as though he had won the league.
“The facts are that if we are able to beat Mace in the return fixture and win three of our five remaining league fixtures, then we should win the title.”
Alex Singer, Adam Stevens and Alex Lee fired Manchester Maccabi to their fifth consecutive victory after cruising past British Protection in the Tameside League.
Maccabi joint-manager Stuart Delmonte said: “The lads are playing with confidence and towards the end of the game against British Protection, we were passing the ball around like Arsenal.”
They face Division Three side New Moston in the Brian Brockbank Cup on Sunday with the winners qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Tim Zoltie fired a consolation as Leeds Maccabi 1st were beaten 8-1 by Queenswood Social FC in the semi-finals of the Leeds Sunday Alliance Cup. Leeds boss Ian Selwyn said: “We’ve got three league games left and if we win them all, then we’ll be in with a great chance of winning the title.”
Head coach Jonathan Kurrant helped Loughborough win the BUCS Futsal Championship. Kurrant, who recently earned his first England cap, helped Loughborough’s 3rd team beat Birmingham University 2nd team 2-1 in the final.
Strikes from Jake Greenfield and Noah Abrahams steered Pinner JFC into the semi-finals of the Watford Friendly Under Nine Spring Cup following a 2-2 draw against Edmonton Rangers Cobras. Gold Goldstein Trophy has been confirmed.
Strikes from Benji Gourgey and Ricky Rinder helped North West Neasden C knock out competition favourites Faithfold B 2-0. Neasden will host Glenthorneunitedb whobeat Shirley Park, courtesy of a wonder goal from Craig Sandford.
Blizzard Storm will travel to Division Three rivals UJIA in the other last four clash. Dean Shaw, Michael Woolf and an own goal steered Blizzard past fourth division Temple Fortune B. Israeli hotshot Assi Avital maintained his record of scoring in every BGT match this season with the winner as UJIA surprised second division FC Team B.