Hertswood promoted
MGBSFL DIVISION TWO FAITHFOLD DOC MM B 0 HERTSWOOD VALE 2
Jacob Emanuel saluted his players after Hertswood Vale became the first MGBSFL team to secure promotion this season. Strikes from Josh Gorb and Elio Elia helped Vale finish their campaign on 40 points - and only Redbridge Jewish Care B can pip them to the title, on goal difference, assuming they win their five remaining matches. “It’s difficult to sum up my feelings,” said joint-manager Emanuel. “It’s been a brilliant season for everyone involved in the club. To be able to clinch promotion is massive and it’s the least the boys deserve for the season they’ve had. After a strong start we faced a difficult period of three losses in four games only a couple of months back, but we came together, got ourselves back on track, and secured five wins in our last six games to seal promotion.” He said: “It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come as a club since we formed three seasons ago, and lost our first 11 games in the league. But we’ve kept a core group of players and built a quality team. Five of today’s 15 played in our first game, coincidentally also against Faithfold B back in September 2016, and they’ll know more than most how far we’ve come.” Promotion was secured on the same day as joint-manager Danny
Hirschberger’s birthday. Emanuel said: “We’ll enjoy a cheeky drink or two with the lads in the coming weeks to celebrate a brilliant achievement. For now, we look forward to facing Oakwood B in the Barry Goldstein Trophy in three weeks’ time. In regards to the league – Redbridge, it’s over to you.”
FC TEAM 6 REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B 3
Redbridge’s title hopes were dealt a blow after they were hit for six by FC Team. Richard Salmon (2), Mitch Young, Eitan Ben-Zion, David Cohen and super-sub Eddie Sternberg registered. The win takes Mitch Young’s men to within a point of RJC, who have three games in hand. RJC’s goals came through Lee Cutler (2) and Steve Summers. Boss Richard Bronzite said: “I can’t moan about the way we played, as it was a huge improvement to last week. It was just one of those games we could do nothing about. We tried and I’m grateful to the boys who turned up. All credit to FC Team who are a good bunch of lads and are a credit to the league.” Two RJC regulars had good reason to miss the match. Goalkeeper Daniel Lee pulled out of the squad the day before to coincide with the arrival of his third son, while Andy Levy was celebrating the arrival of a baby girl. FC Team boss Mitch Young said: “It was a good game against two fairly evenly matched teams. On the day we had a bit of luck and an extra bit of quality to see us through.”
PREMIER DIVISION HENDON UNITED SPORTS 3 BRADY MACCABI 0
Hendon United took another step towards successfully defending their title after grinding down Brady to open a four point lead. Patience was key in the opening 20 minutes as Brady defended in numbers, but a moment of inspiration from Gav Noe ended their resistance. A move that started deep inside the Hendon half, saw Josh Harris play a perfectly-weighted pass to Noe to run on to and chip home with his weaker foot from 20 yards. Hendon introduced Dovi Fehler in the second half and his injection of pace had the Brady defence at sixes and sevens. Hendon eventually doubled their lead from the penalty spot following a foul on Harris. Avi Korman converted before Fehler completed the scoring with a trademark near-post run and finish. Reflecting on Hendon’s eighth league triumph, boss Jordan Sapler said: “Once again it wasn’t a classic but we did needed to and got the job done. We look forward to a week off before entertaining Faithfold.”
DIVISION ONE NORTH LONDON RAIDERS 2 OAKWOOD B 2
Josh Bloom’s first goal of the season helped keep Raiders above mid-table rivals Oakwood as the points were shared. Aron Gale was NLR’s other scorer. NLR’s David Isaacs said: “Overall I’m pleased with how the boys played and are looking forward to next week’s cup tie against FC Team.”
BARRY GOLDSTEIN TROPHY ROUND ONE SPEC FC 5 FAIRLOP FC 1
ZACK NEIMAN was the hat-trick hero as second division SPEC FC surprised Division One title hopefuls Fairlop FC. Further strikes from Ashley Burns and an own goal completed the rout. SPEC boss Ricky Lawrence said: “It was an excellent performance from one to 16. We fully deserved the victory.” Fairlop’s consolation came via an own goal. Jake Sanders described the performance as “unacceptable”.