Kristall: ‘At our top level, Oaks are best side in Jewish football’

FOOTBALL DAN Kristall insists Oakwood will not get carried away after they blew the MGBSFL title race wide open with a 2-0 win over leaders Hendon United.

Hendon went into the game with a seven-point advantage over Oakwood, whom they had already beaten twice this season in league and cup.

But Oakwood were determined to boost their title challenge and they ran out worthy victors, becoming the first team to stop the defending champions from scoring this season.

Second-half strikes from Bradley Wine and Josh Bharier secured Oakwood’s fourth and most impressive victory of the season. The result helped them close the gap to four points, and they have two games in hand.

“This was a stunning win,” commented Oakwood joint-manager Kristall. “Nobody fancied us but we believe in ourselves and we back our ability.

“I don’t think our keeper had a save to make, which against as good a side as Hendon, shows how well we played.”

Kristall boldly claimed: “We know when we hit our top level, we are the best side in Jewish football. Our issue over the last 12-18 months, since we won the title, has been a lack of availability and inconsistency of performance.

“We are playing really well at the moment. Following our early-season inconsistency, we have made a system change and it’s working. The differences between our performance six weeks ago at Hadley and here were huge. Here, we were fast, energetic, powerful and effective. That was as good as we’ve played in over a year. To keep our first clean sheet since March is really pleasing too.”

And he described the title race as “wide open now”. He said: “I think a few other teams will be smiling about this result. That is what it’s all about — a competitive Premier Division with sides all beating each other.

“We will keep our feet on the ground and take it one game at a time from here.”

Hendon boss Jordan Sapler admitted: “Oakwood wanted it more and deserved the win. We weren’t good enough but will look to put it right when we play them again in three weeks.”