Gold and Burkeman take U11s home
WATFORD FRIENDLY LEAGUE U11 CUP FINAL ML LIONS 2 PROTEC 0
FOOTBALL MACCABI London Lions U11s capped a memorable first season of nine-a-side football by winning the WFL Cup.
Playing two matches in a day, the Lions started with a semi-final against Colney Heath Magpies.
The Magpies were awarded an early penalty but Lions keeper Daniel BenYair produced a fantastic save.
Twin brothers Charlie and Ollie Whiteley and Harrison Davis also produced eye-catching performances for the Lions in a game settled by an excellent second-half strike from Natan Glatt.
Having secured a place in their second WFL final in consecutive seasons, the Lions were led out by stand-in captain Joshua Doctors and there was a sense of determination to lift the trophy again.
Lions started the first half well and The livewire Gav Mevorah was a constant menace to the Protec defence and took the game to them coming close to scoring on two occasions.
Protec enjoyed a good spell of pressure towards the end of the first half, but Joshua Doctors and Charlie Whiteley kept them at bay with some composed defending.
Lions started the second half at a relentless pace and after good work from Zac Benedick and Samuel Burkeman, the ball broke to Ethan Gold on the right-hand side. Gold, a Fulham fan, had only one target in mind and having outpaced the Protec left-back, he fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner.
As the half wore on, clever play between David Banin and Fredi Rexhepi set up Burkeman who slotted his shot calmly into the net.
A Lions spokesman said: “This is another remarkable achievement for this fantastic group of boys, who have now added the U11 cup to their collection of trophies.”
SQUAD: Daniel Ben-Yair, Ollie Whiteley, Charlie Whiteley, Joshua Doctors, Max Mandel, Samuel Burkeman, Fredi Rexhepi, Ethan Gold, Gav Mevorah, Zac Benedick, David Banin, Harrison Davis, Natan Glatt