CYRIL ANEKSTEIN CUP ROUND ONE

BRADY MACCABI 2 MACCABI LONDON LIONS BLUE 0

Brady created a number of chances in the first half and should have gone into the half-time break with more of an advantage after Rob Cohen’s superb free-kick.

The home side kept the Lions at arm's-length and an ice-cool penalty from Mogilner early in the second half looked to have killed off the game.

However, a serious injury to Cohen knocked Brady for a while, however they battled and resisted everything MLL could throw at them and came out deserved winners.

Jubliant Brady joint-manager Joel Nathan told JC Sport: "Today, unlike last week, we turned up and didn't let a good MLL team settle.

"I would like to say thank you to the Lions physio Jeremy who looked after Rob when he got injured which helped calm him down considerably as he was in a lot of pain."

Lions boss Sam Marchant told JC Sport: "We knew today would be a tough match and it proved to be just that. It’s slightly frustrating to play a top division team so early in a cup competition but to win these competitions, at some point you have to beat the best.

"Today we weren’t at our best, but we were our own enemies today as we conceded sloppily from a deep free-kick and gave away a very unnecessary penalty early in the second half which really took the wind out of us.

"The game itself was much closer than the scoreline suggests and on another day it could’ve been the other way. We lacked some creativity in the final third today and didn’t create enough clear-cut chances but the same can be said for Brady. Hopefully when we meet in the league the scoreline will be different.

"I want to wish Rob Cohen a quick recovery from an injury he picked up today and hopefully it’s not as bad as first feared."

LIONS: James Harpin, Sammy Kingston, Adam Abadi, Ed Brafman, Nick Barnett, Daniel Behar, Ben Winters, Zach Perez, David Nezri, Josh Bloom, Jono Gaon. Subs: Nathan Anders, Charlie Cohen, Michael Kenley, Zak Linden