New year cheer for five-star Dons
MGBSFL DIVISION TWO MILL HILL DONS 5 TEMPLE FORTUNE 2
Brandon Hamme insists Mill Hill Dons are “determined to make 2019 a success,” following the win that enabled them to climb above Temple Fortune. Joseph Reece, Isaac Virchis, Ryan Kramer, James Segal and Sam Stead were the marksmen as the Dons secured their fifth win of the season. Dons boss Hamme said: “We were superb, especially in the first half. We tailed away a bit in the second half as we began to tire. There were a lot of positives to take forward.” Sam Circurel and Danny Sherman replied for a Fortune team entering its 50th season in Maccabi football.
HERTSWOOD VALE 1 SCRABBLE FC B 3
Jacob Emanuel expressed disappointment after Vale failed to go clear at the top following a surprise defeat against Scrabble. Lloyd Becker, Jordan Nathan and Alex Bourne earned Scrabble their fifth victory of the season, with Harry Graham pulling one back for Vale who succumbed to their third defeat. Vale joint-manager Jacob Emanuel remarked: “Fair play to Scrabble who used every trick in the book to frustrate us and deservedly took the points.”
FC TEAM 5 FAITHFOLD DOC MM B 3
Player-manager Mitch Young helped FC Team complete a quickfire double over promotion rivals Faithfold. Further strikes from David Grossman, Dan Breger and Jules Noti completed FC Team’s seventh win of the season. “It was a very pleasing start to the year,” said Young. “To come back from 1-3 down showed tremendous character and heart. We were clinical in attack and our second-half performance was excellent from all 14 players involved.” Faithfold’s goals came
through top-scorer Benny Goldberg (2) and Leor Harel.
MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION OAKWOOD A 4 LOS CAMDEN A 1
Scott Smith scored on his debut as Oakwood maintained their title challenge with an impressive win. Further strikes from Josh Cuby, Josh Bharier and Kyle Bentwood cemented Oakwood’s fifth league win. Oakwood joint-manager Dan Kristall said: “Credit to Camden, who kept going, but I felt we really showed our class. In terms of the title race, all we can do is win our games. The rest will take care of itself. We also have two cup competitions to make sure we are super sharp for, so we are really looking forward to the run-in this year.”
BRADY MACCABI 2 FAITHFOLD DOC MM A 0
Rob Cohen and Marc Rister fired Brady Maccabi to their first league win. Brady boss Joel Nathan said: “We had the luxury of a 16-man squad and made sure changes were made to keep our momentum going when a couple of the boys looked tired. We have three hard games coming up and will be looking to kick on over the second half of the season.”
CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP RND 2 OAKWOOD B 2 JEWDINESE 3
Darren Lawrence admitted Jewdinese were far from their best as a last-minute penalty from James Ross saw them heap more misery on Oakwood B, as they registered a third victory of the season over their Division One rivals. Billy Lee and Jake Erlich also registered against an Oakwood team for whom Daniel Seligman and Daniel Selwyn scored direct from corners.”This was another game where we perhaps did not perform to the best of our ability,” said Lawrence. “However, the fight, hunger and desire we showed cannot go unnoticed. We were determined not to exit the cup prematurely as we know we have the talent to make a real push for this trophy. When the going got tough, we really knuckled down and clawed our way back into the game. We focused on our game and got the job done.” Oakwood boss Simon Field believes his team “didn’t get the rub of the green”. He went on to say: “It was a great battling performance in a competitive cup tie. The boys put in a much-improved performance but there’s much to build on as we take this attitude on for the rest of the year.”