By, Danny Caro
1 min read
ByDanny Caro, Danny Caro
Faithfold were beaten on penalties at Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park as Manchester Maccabi lifted the Peter Morrison Trophy.
Defences dominated throughout with neither team able to break through in 120 minutes of open play.
Skipper Michael Sacks, Adam Lavin, Mark Wolfe, Josh Lewis and Rafi Leeker all successfully converted from the spot.
Alex Levack, the Faithfold captain, netted Faithfold's first spot-kick with Simon Lawrence, Lorian Madanes and Dan Howard also converting but the crucial miss came from Rocky Spitzer who saw his effort strike the crossbar.
Faithfold boss Zuriel Solomon told JC Sport: "We dominated possession for the full 120 and felt we deserved something more in 120 minutes.
"We hit the woodwork three times had numerous chances saved of the line, and their goalkeeper made a few good saves.
"It was very competitive match played in good spirit. I felt that we definitely deserved to win.
"We will be back, What the trip did was bring the boys together and their unity will bode well for next year.
"We may one or two but I have a fantastic bunch of boys who did themselves proud."
Faithfold assistant-manager Daryl Phillips told JC Sport: "There was only one team in it. We were all over them for 120 minutes. They know it and we know it. However sometimes the best team doesn't win.
"All 14 players were superb, with special mentions to Lorian Madanes, Rocky Spitzer and Paul Babai, who were immense. We battled from the off and played all the football. We hit posts, bars, had shots saved on line. The Manchester goalkeeper pulled off some great saves.
"It seems Manchester were happy to play out for the draw, and could not match us playing football. However, they defended very well but did not have much going foward.
"Well played to Manchester. Their five penalties were excellent and at the end of the day they won the cup.
"We had a lot of new boys this year (Madanes, Babai, Jonny Haik and Alex Kaye) who have all played their part and all improved the more the season has gone on.
"It's a shame for the boys but we will only come back stonger next season."
Manchester joint-manager Stuart Delmonte told JC Sport: "Faithfold were the better team on the day but even though we hadn't practiced penalties, we held our nerve and for the first time ever, I broke down in tears at the final whistle."
