Jason Stein praised the mercurial Jacob Richler Kleiman who fired a deadly hat-trick to put Oakwood B into the hat for round three of the Cyril Anekstein Cup following a five-goal thriller against Maccabi London Lions B.
Having just been named JC Player of the Month, the former Manchester Maccabi marksman helped the Oaks come from a goal down to win 3-2 in a game where Eli Cohen and Daniel Fattal registered for the Lions.
Stein told JC Sport: "We're over the moon to be through to the next round and to see out the high holidays without defeat for another year.
"Today was a terrific cup game and Lions played their part. As usual, we fell 1-0 behind but then hit back to lead 3-1 thanks to JRK notching his 9th, 10th and 11th goals of the season.
"Today was a big day for a half dozen players who were either making debuts or first starts of the season and they came through it with flying colours. That shows the strength of the squad.
"Lions are arguably stronger than any of the sides we have played in our division and I'll be amazed if they don't win Division Two.
"For now it's eyes back on the league, but I do quite fancy an all Oakwood last 16 tie. Let's see what comes out of the hat."
Lions boss Sam Marchant told JC Sport that he will take away several positives. "We knew it wasn’t going to be easy facing a team playing well in the division above, however there was minimal difference between the two teams.
"We started well, taking the lead after 10 minutes, but as we’ve done previously, we let the opposition back in the game and it was 1-1 at half time.
"The difference today was two defensive errors from us and a soft penalty against us. If we eliminate those errors, we win the game. With 20 minutes to go, 3-1 down, we understandably changed to a more attacking formation with three at the back and we dominated the remainder of the match. Fattal scored a great goal with 10 minutes to go, Bloom had a great effort stopped and we had a shot cleared off the line.
"On another day, we win that match. There are plenty of positives for us to take from the game and it’s very promising for us as a squad to be able to compete well against higher opposition.
"We showed we had fight to get back in the game, but it was that bit too late. However, I must say congratulations to Oakwood on their victory and I wish them all the luck for the rest of the cup."
