MANCHESTER COUNTY CUP
MANCHESTER MACCABI 1st 9 EAST CENTRAL 0

Manchester Maccabi cruised into the last 32 of the County Cup with a nine-goal demolition of East Central.

Ahead of kick-off, Maccabi 1st manager Martin Simons said "the County Cup really allows us to gauge where we are as a club" so it was no surprise that Maccabi were looking forward to their fixture against East Central. With East Central coming from the Tameside League, Maccabi knew that they would be no pushovers.

The game started with a high tempo and Maccabi had the better of the chances, Oli Grant coming close and Ryan Silvester seeing his shot saved a point-blank range. Despite starting well, Maccbai had a few brief scares and it was up to Phil Pole between the sticks to keep East Central at bay with two fantastic one-on-one saves in quick succession.

The breakthrough finally came when Grant was clean through on goal and poked the ball home past the on-rushingkeeper.

Two goals followed in quick succession with Sam Van-Gelder scoring directly from a corner and Adam Jackson heading in the third from the following corner.

With the half time score relatively comfortable, Maccabi knew this was their chance to show their class.

Within a minute of the second half starting, Sam Hatton diverted a cross-shot in to the bottom corner for his first ever first team goal.

Even though the Maccabi were comfortably leading, they didn’t take their foot off the gas. Further goals came in quick succession from Silvester, Grant and David Herman chipped in with two.

Undoubtedly the best goal of the game was saved until last when Ben Feingold finessed the ball from outside of the area, curling it around the defenders and into the bottom corner.

At 9-0 this was really a statement of intent by Maccabi, much to the delight of Simons. He said: "You can only beat what’s in front of you. The boys never stopped going until the end and this was evident by the scoreline. They were all hungry to succeed and that’s the desire I like to see.

"On another note it was great to see Matt Feingold making his first 1st team appearance. We have a great youth system at this club and Matt’s appearance today is further evidence of that."

Next week Maccabi play in the Manchester Accountants League Hand-Cup against Sporting Manchester where they will start the game 2-0 down.

Maccabi 1st: Pole, Jackson, Foster, B. Loofe, Hatton, Van-Gelder, A. Loofe, Herman, Silvester, Grant, Maynard, B. Feingold, M. Feingold