JC CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP SEMI-FINAL
Hendon United Sports Club A 2 North London Raiders A 1 AET
Two stunning strikes from Greg Corin kept alive Hendon's treble hopes as they came from behind to beat Raiders at Hadley FC.
It appeared that Hendon's hopes of reaching a third consecutive Anekstein Cup final were over until Corin popped up with an equaliser deep into injury time from the edge of the box. His speculative effort through a ruck of players from the edge of the box left Raiders keeper Dan Cohen rooted to the spot.
Raiders had taken a shock lead when defender Michael Sacks headed a corner on to the post, leaving striker Jacob Gold to fire the ball over the line from close range.
With time running out, and referee Laurie Benson looking at his watch, Corin levelled things up before a sensational effort from 40 yards.
Hendon boss David Garbacz told JC Sport: "This was a fully commited cup tie which was a credit to the league.
"We dominated play throughout yet could not break down a very well organised Raiders team. We then found ourselves 1-0 down to probably their only effort on goal all game. We piled forward had what looked like a stonewall penalty turned down and time was quickly running out. Up stepped the little maestro, Greg to save our treble dreams with a sensational equaliser in the last minute of injury time.
"With momentum behind us, Greg produced an even better strike in extra time to secure us the win. We will all be buying him a very large drink this evening. All credit to Raiders for taking us so close, but even more credit should go to my boys who simply do not know when they are beaten this season.
"We cannot wait for the final and we hope and pray that this time its third time lucky."
Raiders joint-manager Danny Caro told JC Sport: "It was a real heart-breaker. We thought we were there but Hendon showed the true sign of champions and never gave up. They kept coming at us and I feel as though I've aged about 50 years this morning.
"Our boys were brilliant. We had a game-plan and it worked for about 97 minutes, but we couldn't hold out. In the end it just wasn't to be.
"Well done Hendon. They are an excellent team and we wish them good luck in the final."
