Oaks 'must not get carried away' after beating Hendon

Oakwood took control from the 10th minute onwards and dominated. "I don't think our keeper had a save to make which against as good a side as Hendon, shows how well we played," admitted joint-manager Kristall.

The away dug-out was up-in-arms early on when a penalty appeal was waved away, but they "accepted" Richard Jaye's decision, which "explained" to Kristall at half-time.

Oakwood then missed a couple of clear-cut chances in the first half and when theyhit the post early in the second half, it looked like it could be one of those days. But their perseverance was rewarded midway through the second half with a great strike from Brad Wine.

Josh Bharier secured the points with a tidy finish late on, ending Hendon's hopes.

"This was a stunning win," enthused joint-manager Kristall. "Nobody fancied us but we keep believing in ourselves and we back our ability. 

"We know that when we hit our top level, we are the best side in Jewish football. Our issue over the last 12-18 months, since we won the title, has been a lack of availability and inconsistency of performance.

"We are playing really well at the moment. Since our early season inconsistency, we have made a system change and its working. The differences between our performance six weeks ago at Hadley and yesterday were huge. Here, we were fast,energetic, powerful and effective. That was as good as we've played in over a year. To we kept our first clean sheet since March is really pleasing too."

Kristall called for calm after the post-match celebrations died down, and said: "In terms of the bigger picture, its a long old season and we have to build on this win as ultimately it is only three points.

"I think the title race is wide open now, so I think a few sides will have been smiling with this result. That is what its all about - a competitive Prem Division with teams all beating each other.

"We will keep our feet on the ground, not get carried away and take it one game at a time."

Hendon boss Jordan Sapler told JC Sport: "Oakwood wanted it more today and deserved the win. We weren’t good enough but look to put it right when we play them again in three weeks.

"We lost Ari Nevies to injury early in the second half and had to reshuffle and then conceded a second in the dying minutes when we pushed for an equaliser."

HENDON: Russ Corin, Jonty Aremband, Ari Nevies, Avi Korman, Mordi Weiler, Simon Peterman, Ari Last, Rocky Spitzer, Chaim Korman, Dovi Fehler, Zac Lewis. Subs: Zac Garbacz, Josh Harris

OAKWOOD: James Hiller, Dale Bradman, Tom Cantor, Alex Lee, Lee Warner, Kyle Bentwood, Toby Levy, Brad Wine, Josh Bharier, Josh Cuby. Sub: David Woolman

​SCORERS: Wine, Bharier