SEMI-FINALS
Vine Street 4-1 Heaton Park
A much changed side saw us exit the cup competition at the semi-final stage, with a 4-1 defeat to Vine Street.
A defensive error led to the first goal, minutes after kick-off, after Vine Street won a throw-in, deep in our half. But we settled down, playing some nice football. Had Yaakov not been fouled when through on goal and the goalkeeper not tipped his superb shot on to the bar, or we had taken one or both of the 3-on-1 opportunities, it may have been a different game.
However, a long ball over the top from the Vine Street goalkeeper caught us out, and third and fourth goals on the break made our task much harder. We did salvage some pride when Yaakov pulled one back after Yoni had won the ball back, but ultimately the loss of key players caught up with us.
Windsor Road 2 Whitefield 1
The second semi-final saw Windsor Road book a deserved spot in the final, with ex-Heaton Park Golden Boot winner, Hudi Frankel, making his return from injury to grab one of the goals.
FINAL
Windsor Road 2-2 Vine Street
Windsor Road win 9-8 on penalties
A fantastic game went all the way on Wednesday night, as Windsor Road and Vine Street showed why both were worthy finalists.
With Vine Street clinging on at 2-1 deep into injury time, Windsor Road equalised in the 11th minute of injury time to take the match to extra time.
With neither side able to find the breakthrough, it was down to the lottery of penalties. After 5 penalties each, the two teams were locked at 4-4, after Bini Silverman had controversially seen his effort ruled out after the goalkeeper had pushed his shot onto the bar, although it did look as if it had bounced in, with Doni Kaye missing as well.
And the unfortunate Bini hit the post in sudden death to hand Windsor Road the inaugural Cup trophy.
MANAGER’S COLUMN
After last season’s league campaign, it was clear that, although we had plenty of talent in the team, with the Golden Boot winner and Player of the Year, we needed to add further quality to the squad if we wanted to progress.
Sruli Bengio and Gary Lederberg added much needed defensive steel at the back, to complement Darren Cohen. Who’s to say if Sruli had not been injured and Gary and Darren had been available for crucial games, that we could not have gone all the way?
Further up the pitch it was great to welcome back Ryan Silvester, who weighed in with goals and assists, and we must of course mention Aron Frankel, who, restored to the striker’s position, finished with an unbeaten 14 goals. Not forgetting Yaakov Wilson, who grabbed 12, and gave us a solid base in the middle to work from.
Thanks go as well to all those squad players who stepped up when needed: Mordy Garbe, Jared Cohen, Binyomin Bamberger, Yehuda Davies.
But we want to be successful and we want to be winning trophies, which is why we are not stopping here. There are still places available for the new league season, which starts on Sunday 15th September, and it would be great to hear from you if you want to be a part of it. Please call or message Yoni Finlay on 07531 873 872.