A brace from striker Alex Bourne gave Southgate Harmen the points in a hard fought 2-1 win over Scrabble in Division One of the Maccabi Masters League.
In Division Two, Temple Fortune started off the new year with a bang as they sprung a surprise 1-0 win over high-flying EDRS Stonegrove, Alan Harounoff’s goal giving Fortune only their second win of the season.
It was Fortune's first win since September 9 and the fact it came against an EDRS team featuring the likes of Larry Radivan, John Holman, James Bloom, former Fortune midfielder Nigel Conway, Tony Platman, Phil Silver, Ian Leader, Gary Shaw and Mark Kingsley delighted Fortune boss David Goldberg.
It needed a star performance from keeper Graham Meyer, deputising for the Serge Weinberger, to earn a makeshift Fortune team, featuring several guest players, their first clean sheet since last April.
He said: "It was an excellent performance. Everybody gave 100 per cent effort from start to finish against a strong EDRS team. Our battling qualities were excellent and Hilton Teper and Gary Burns were outstanding in particular.
"Of course, we were helped enormously by Barnett Horowitz in defence who was superb, but the spirit and effort was fantastic and we deserved this win."
Glenthorne United B took advantage of EDRS’s defeat to regain their top spot, as they beat stablemates Glenthorne C 3-0 courtesy of goals from Greg Morris (2) and a penalty from Jason Levy.
A later winner from Jack Moses gave Marshside the points following a 3-2 win over Hendon Harriers. Fara Moghim had earlier scored twice for Marshside whilst David Jacobs and Adam Greenblatt had netted for Hendon.
St John’s Wood Tigers roared to an 8-2 win over Ashlodge CPC with a hat-trick from player-manager John Perloff plus an own goal and strikes from Paul Herszaft, Perry Somers, Ashley Marks and Ezra Mordecai. Bruce Brent scored both Ashlodge goals.
HAT-TRICK HERO
John Perloff (St John's Wood Tigers)
DIVISION ONE
Scrabble 1 Southgate Harmen 2
DIVISION TWO
Glenthorne United B 3 Glenthorne United C 0
Hendon Harriers 2 Marshside 3
St John’s Wood Tigers 8 Ashlodge CPC 2
Temple Fortune 1 EDRS Stonegrove 0
TABLES
DIVISION ONE
1. Glenthorne United A Pl, 10, Pts. 16
2. Southgate Harmen Pl, 10, Pts. 14
3. Brady Maccabi A Pl, 8, Pts. 11
4. North London Raiders Pl, 7, Pts. 10
5. Waldaf Town Pl, 8, Pts. 6
6. South Mancunians Pl. 9, Pts. 3
7. Scrabble Pl. 8, Pts. 3
DIVISION TWO
1. Glenthorne United B Pl, 9, Pts. 16
2. EDRS Stonegrove Pl, 11, Pts. 16
3. London Maccabi Lions Pl. 8, Pts. 13
4. St John’s Wood Tigers Pl. 10, Pts. 12
5. Hendon Harriers Pl. 9, Pts. 8
6. Glenthorne United C Pl. 9, Pts. 8
7. Brady Maccabi Pl. 10, Pts. 7
8. Temple Fortune Pl. 9, Pts. 6
9. Marshside Pl. 9, Pts. 6
10. Ashlodge CPC Pl. 10, Pts. 2
