Oaks make their point
Ten men overcome early red card to draw 1-1 against champions
FOOTBALL RIC Blank saluted his players after Oakwood A overcame the first-minute loss of their goalkeeper to earn a point against defending MGBSFL champions North London Raiders A.
Blank admitted he was shocked when referee Martin De La Fuente dismissed Jonny Blain for handling outside his area in a challenge with NLR’s Matt Stock. The incident was picked up by the
JC’s videographer and looked inconclusive, but the official’s mind was made up and Oakwood were forced to battle on with 10 men. Having named a substitute goalkeeper on the bench, Dan Cohen joined the action and Oakwood produced a resilient performance, taking the lead through Zack Collins.
Alex Moss hauled Raiders level but it needed a late save from Jake Doffman, who was at full-stretch to keep out Collins’s free-kick, to secure a point.
Oakwood joint-manager Blank said: “This match was further proof of the indefatigable Oakwood spirit. In my many years of amateur football I’ve never seen anything like what happened when the referee sent off Jonny. It was a huge, huge call. Martin gave the decision honestly and with consideration, but we felt it was incredibly harsh.”
NLR Dan Shafron described the red-card decision as “unfortunate” and went on to commend Oakwood for “dealing with it very well”. He said: “They restructured, sat very deep, with everyone behind the ball, and to their credit, defended excellently and made it tough for us to break them down.”
He added: “I think it was all about who got the first goal. They got it and just defended their lead resiliently. Had we scored I’m sure we would have gone on to win the game but it wasn’t to be.” Daryl Kay insists Wood ford Wander
ers’ first win of the season was “more than deserved” as they edged past SPEC
FC with a late strike from Craig Sandford.
SPEC’s Ricky Lawrence described the result as “a kick in the teeth”. Eli Gottlieb believes Athletic Bil
baum are ready “to push on” after Rob Rodney and Sam Deaner earned them their first point, against Division One leaders ML Lions B. Michael Kenley and Adam Abadi replied.
Dan Polak (2) and Daniel Sinclair guided Finchley City to a 3-2 victory over Hendon United B.
Finchley’s Joel Holder remarked: “The boys showed plenty of character after going behind twice. Despite dominating the game we did not play our best football, but it was important to return to winning ways.”
Jamie Nessim and Stuart Harris replied for Hendon and co-manager Jono Nesbitt said: “It was disappointing, a general lack of concentration and commitment seemed to be the theme of the day.” Mill Hill Dons completed the come-
back of the day as they rallied from four goals down to draw against high-flying Faithfold B.
Sam Garson, Richard Fogelman, Louis Taylor and Jonathan Marrache had put Faithfold in charge but the Dons rallied superbly with efforts from Sammy Hakimian, Zach Cohen, Adam Isaacs and Nick Phillips.
Dons boss Brandon Hamme said: “At 4-0 down it looked like the game was over. But the boys fought to the end and claimed a deserved point. It was an incredible comeback.”
Nick Stern praised his L’Equipe players after they extended their lead at the top of Division Two with a hard-earned point against Temple Fortune.
Jordan Sharifia, Brett Stead and Aron Barnes looked to have put Fortune on course for victory against their promotion rivals. But a depleted L’Equipe hit back through Andy Smith, Jon Kay and Mark Korn.
Stern said: “We will remember this point at the end of the season as one of the most important ones of the whole campaign.”
Fortune boss Simon Linden said: “Most teams would be satisfied with a point against the league leaders, but we should have taken advantage against an under-strength L’Equipe team.”
Jimmy Castle cancelled out Alex Elf’s opener as Redbridge Jewish Care C drew with Raiders C.
NLR joint-manager David Domb said: “Once again we demonstrated the potential in the side by holding a team that really fancies themselves for the title.”
Jonti Aremband (4) and Avi Markiewicz (3) eased RC UK FC to their third victory of the season as they crushed Boca Jewniors 7-0.
Chaim Gothold, Bennis Slukis, Zvi Noe and Yoni Cohen steered Real Hendon to a 4-1 success over FC Team B.