CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP ROUND ONE
FAITHFOLD A 4 REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE A 1
Goals from Luis Nagten, Yossi Gordon, Avishai Marcus and Chaim Bordon made it a memorable morning for a Faithfold team who ran out worthy winners after executing their game-plan to perfection.
Markiewicz told JC Sport: "Things didn't start well when we didn't have keeper and with it being a cup game we couldn't sign anyone last minute. It got even worse when two of our players pulled out this morning but as the gaffer, pulled hamstring and all, I did the honours of going in. I was lucky that I brought down a huge squad in the first place."
Markiewicz went into the game showing RJC the utmost respect, "so we set ourselves up accordingly. The Hive is a large and smooth surface so there was no escaping the fact we had a job on our hands and would have to play good football if we wanted to get anything from this game. We played a 5-4-1 and it worked to perfection.
"Redbridge may point to the red card as the turning point but that was after half an hour, even with 11 men they didn't manage a shot on or off target, not to mention that a team that is fighting for the Prem title you would expect be able to cope against newly promoted lower division opponents even with 10.
"Our aim was always to sit back, invite the pressure and hit them on the break, which is exactly how the red card came about. We broke fast, our player was running through and one of their men with no intention of winning the ball took him out with a professional foul. Referee Richard Jaye had no hesistation in dismissing Ben Sollosi.
After the red card Faithfold changed nothing. Markiewicz continued: "Underestimating them would be the worst thing to do, the red card just meant that when we broke they would have one man less from stopping the counter. By the end of the game we could have been up by eight or nine. Ironically for a team who conceded four against lower division opponents, their best player by a country mile today was their keeper. Aside from the penalty and follow-up he made four or five outstanding stops although from our part a couple of them should have been better hit. I didn't have a single save to make, their only proper shot on target was a last-minute, very softly given penalty. Having said that, that stint in goal has probably set my hamstring back another two months, but it was worth it.
"We won because we worked hard, we filled in, we never got on each others back, we played as a team and we played for each other, and in the end that was the difference. Cliche I know but if we play anything like that from now on then we will have an extremely successful season. Consistency though, is the key.
"I think we outplayed them from start to finish, they may have had majority possession for the first half hour but did nothing with it, this was no fluke or ref decision. Every time we broke before and after the red we were dangerous and if anything the score-line at the end could and should have been even further tilted in our favour."
