Galaxy glee
DIVISION ONE NORTH LONDON RAIDERS 0 NORTH LONDON GALAXY 1
“Concentration for 90 minutes, ridiculous amounts of hard work and a bond like no other won us the game today. I couldn’t be prouder of my boys.” Those were the words of Galaxy manager Luke Lewis after his team blew the title race open as they condemned Raiders to their first defeat of the season. The decisive moment of the match saw Zac Rose release Jayden Tomlinson down the right and his dangerous cross into the penalty area was deflected into the net for an own goal to earn Galaxy a crucial win lifting them above Hertswood Vale into second place, four points behind Raiders, with a game in hand. Lewis went on to say: “We knew how Raiders were going to play. We knew their danger men and quite simply, we knew how to nullify them. We restricted them to virtually no chances and despite having little possession, we should have won the game more emphatically. Thankfully, Raiders didn’t have Charlie Kasler today. They lacked a creative player to find passes and provide quality on the ball. Nonetheless we deserve all the praise in the world and fully deserved to win.” Raiders joint-manager Gideon Gale described the result and performance as “one to forget”. He said: “Having dominated the ball, we were unable to breakdown a resolute defence and made a number of sloppy mistakes. Thankfully, the league is still in our hands and we are looking forward to lifting the trophy in May.”
HERTSWOOD VALE 1 MILL HILL DONS 2
MARC CHARLES scored twice as Mill Hill Dons sealed their first league win of the season with a hard-fought victory over promotion-chasing Vale. Jordan Harris had cancelled out Charles’s opener but the Dons’ midfielder scored the winner in added time in a game where Vale had two players sin-binned for dissent. Dons manager Jamie Nagioff said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the performance. We had a very clear game-plan and worked on it both at training and in detail before kick-off, and it worked to perfection. The effort and organisation from the boys was a joy to see and it shows how well we can play when we’re at our best. That hasn’t happened enough this season though, so I hope this is the start of a good run of form.”
JEWDINESE 5 SPEC FC 1
Reiss Mogilner (3) and Zack Collins (2) helped Jewdinese return to winning ways by overpowering SPEC FC. Jewdinese boss Darren Lawrence said: “We’re delighted to get back on track. I was disappointed we didn’t score more goals and conceded a sloppy one.” SPEC player-manager Ricky Lawrence admitted: “We were beaten by the better side.”
REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE 1 BROOK FARM ROVERS 2
BFR player-manager Dan Cohen on “an ugly win,” as he and Josh Silverman helped guide the visitors to their second win of the season. Veteran Darren Brown replied for RJC. Cohen said: “It was an incredibly tough game. The conditions made it very difficult to play football and we were up against a Redbridge side who worked hard and defended stoutly throughout. It was an ugly win but certainly a deserved one.”
MGBSFL PREMIER DIVISION FAITHFOLD DOCMM WHITE 4 CAMDEN PARK 0
Faithfold player-manager Avi Markiewicz praised his players for a “tireless” performance as they brushed Camden Park aside. Yoav Kestenbaum scored his first goal for the club, while David Leiwy, Dovi Vogel and Markiewicz completed the scoring as Faithfold earned their sixth league win. Markiewicz said: “This was another classy all-round performance. We played some really good football at times but our commitment won us the game. We were first to every loose ball and worked relentlessly to close Camden down at every opportunity. The players who stepped in were magnificent and it’s great to have such strength in depth.” (centre)
MLFC BLUE 1 FAIRLOP FC 2
Fairlop ended their long wait for a first league win as they beat MLFC at Rowley Lane. A close-range effort from leading scorer James Jaconelli was followed by a coolly converted penalty by skipper Bradley Gayer. Fairlop boss Aaron Dias said: “While the quality of the other teams in the division is higher, we have been struggling most with fit- ness levels and squad numbers. It really made a difference having good options on the bench in the final 30 minutes for the first time. Hopefully, this win is a turning point in our season.” Alex Goldberg replied for MLFC. Joint-manager Max Kyte said: “The boys were far too relaxed going into the game, and despite Laurence Judah and I insisting that Fairlop aren’t to be underrated, the message didn’t get across clear enough. On the balance, it was a deserved win for Fairlop who approached the game with the right mentality and fought from start to finish.”
HMH 0 OAKWOOD 0
HMH lost further ground in the title race as they failed to win for the second consecutive weekend, drawing a blank in a stalemate against Oakwood at the Hive. HMH boss Avi Goldberg said: “The match may have lacked goals but it was full of high-quality and high-tempo football, played in the right attitude.”
DIVISION TWO NORTH WEST LONDON BEARS 3 FC TEAM 1
Zacki Doumou (2) and Harry Russell helped the Bears claim one of the shock results of the season as they beat table-toppers FC Team. Connor Perl had earlier equalised for FC Team, but Bears’ goalkeeper James Harpin kept out a penalty from Steve Summers as FC Team suffered their first defeat of the season. Player-manager Harpin said: “We fully deserved the points as we worked harder, kept the ball better and were more clinical when the chances came.” FC Team playermanager Mitch Young conceded: “The Bears seem to be our bogey team. They played well and their strikers were ruthless. We didn’t play well, however, we still had more than enough clearcut chances to win the game, so can only blame ourselves.”
TEMPLE FORTUNE 2 CLUB DE CHIGWELL 1
Simon Cohen and Jacob Kalms boosted Fortune’s promotion hopes after a hard-fought win over Chigwell. Fortune boss Simon Linden: “We defended well for large spells in the second half and the team played as a unit to deal with everything thrown at them. We showed bags of character and completely shut Chigwell out with great discipline and organisation.” Chigwell’s Adam Conway said: “It just wasn’t meant to be today.”
PARIS SAINT-JEWMAIN 1 SCRABBLE 2
A brace from Alex Bourne fired Scrabble to their fifth win of the season as they edged past PSJ. Zac Summerfield netted for PSJ against his former club but he was otherwise well-marshalled by man-of-the-match Neil Kochane in a game where Scrabble keeper Elliott Gordon ensured victory by saving a penalty. Reflecting on the win, Scrabble player-manager Jon Yantin said: “Inspired tactics helped experience conquer youth in a niggly game.”