Lions’ young cubs feast on Athletico in cup mauling

Having beaten Beitar Bushey 8-0 and Real Madreidel 8-1 in the two previous rounds, two goals from Daniel Gillary, plus strikes from Zack Gelbart, Joe Carmona, Josh Doctors and Daniel Solomons handed the Rowley Lane side another impressive result.
With nine 16-year-olds in their squad, manager Lee Glassar is understandably be proud of his young team. He said: “After a shaky first 25 minutes strewn with individual errors, which saw us fall behind, we managed to find our rhythm and get our passing game going.
“We moved the ball with intensity and purpose and scored some great goals. I’m super proud of the boys, most of whom are in Year 12.
“They got stuck in and, despite the weather conditions, did themselves proud. We stuck to our principles of how we play, irrespective of the scoreline and the conditions.
“We have a club style of play that starts with the first team and filters down right through the youth section to our under-sevens.”
He said that entering a youth team into the Peter Morrison Trophy for the first time is proving a success. “Testing ourselves against players considerable older is a true examination of where we’re at,” he said.
“For a Jewish club, playing with other Jews is always special. Every team we have beaten has been incredibly gracious in defeat.”
Zacki Doumou scored a hat-trick for Athletico. Their coach Jess Phillips said: “We performed very below par today. We were very short on numbers, missing multiple key players and unfortunately couldn’t hold on to our lead.” He added: “We’re disappointed to exit the cup, but the league is wide open and we are still in the Cyril Anekstein Cup.
“So are hoping to finish the season with a piece of silverware.”
Also into the next round are HMH A, who won 6-1 at Geez Park Rangers, while Stoke Salmon beat Mill Hill Dons 3-1. Sukkotingham Forest are also through, though needed penalties to overcome Millbrook Park Calcio 8-7 after a 1-1 draw. Dylan Heller scored their goal along with their first penalty, with Dillon Caine, Noah Mezarich, Louis Sherry, Josh Morris, Harry Caplin, Josh Davidson and Josh Summerfield also successful from the spot. Josh Stevens saved the decisive penalty.
Manager Sam Nagioff said: “It was a very disciplined performance and we were deserved winners.”
Yallatasary are the new Division One leaders after they won 2-0 at Brook Farm Rovers.
Redbridge Jewish Care closed in on a top-three place thanks to a convincing 5-1 victory over HMH B.
Danny Gold and Ryan Cole scored two each, with Nathan Capaloff-Harris claiming their other.
Brady FC came away from Hampstead Ducks with a 7-1 win. Aaron Diamond and Guy Nehushtan scored two each, with Benjamin Feldman, Noah Raphael and Yonni Levy also among the goals.
HMH Camden moved to within two points off second spot in Division Two as two goals from Zack Shooter helped them to a 3-1 win over 40 Year Wanderers. Dominic Feldman scored their third goal. Manager Joe Levi said: “It was a great performance, we showed real character playing with 10 men for 70 minutes.”
Mill Hill Minyan are a point behind them in the table as they won 5-2 at Rapid Viennas.
Jake Brassey scored twice, with Jamie Lesser, James Shortland and Jonah Miller also on target.
Minyan’s Benjamin Dallal said: “Following a challenging run of results, we delivered an explosive performance.
“The team effort was outstanding, with the front four combining brilliantly throughout the game to pose constant threats to their defence.
“With five league games remaining, we’re determined to build on this victory and continue our climb up the table”.
The one game played in the Maccabi Masters Football League saw struggling EHRS Stonegrove pick up their first win of the season as they beat Glenthorne 1-0.
Kevin Lotzof’s goal proved to be the difference in a tight game. The victory lifts Stonegrove off the foot of the table.