Magical Mannie lifts Raiders
FOOTBALL DANIEL Shafron expressed relief after defending champions North London Raiders ended their losing streak in style against FC Team.
Defeats against title rivals Redbridge Jewish Care and Hendon United had put NLR on the back foot, but they bounced back in style following the early dismissal of goalkeeper Jake Doffman.
Shafron described hat-trick hero Liron Mannie as “phenomenal” in a game where Matt Stock, Joe Cohen and Dave Cohen completed a 6-2 victory.
Shafron commented: “To win so convincingly with 10 men for 80 minutes is great testament to the character of the boys and how well they worked for each other.
“Having our goalkeeper sent off so early on could have been catastrophic but I am proud of how the boys reacted and showed only positivity in our play.
“As soon as we went ahead, we had full dominance of the game and I felt that we would score a few goals. We were excellent in possession and used the ball well in the right areas of the pitch.
“There were some superb individual performances but today was all about the team as a collective, the result, the performance and the happiness of boys getting that winning feeling back.”
Mike Pearson and Richard Salmon registered for FC Team, but manager Mitch Young bemoaned feeling “disappointed with certain players in my squad for letting me down last minute meaning we only had 11.
“But in truth we didn’t create enough although we had a lot of players filling in to help out.”