BARRY GOLDSTEIN TROPHY GROUP D
HENDON UNITED SPORTS CLUB B 1 OAKWOOD B 3
Jason Stein praised the influence of the Abrams brothers as Oakwood B booked their place in the next round following an impressive 3-1 victory over Hendon B.
Despite missing several key players, Hendon got off to a blistering start and were ahead within a few minutes, a neat exchange saw Benji Silverblatt find Joni Kleiman, whose perfectly weighted through ball released Benni Sluckis and he lobbed the onrushing keeper in excellent fashion.
Oakwood soon found their stride and began to take command of the game as Hendon struggled to retain possession, and by half-time Oakwood were 2-1 up through Jacob Richler-Kleiman and James Abrams.
Hendon improved after the break and despite Oakwood continuing to dominate, had a couple of half chances to level as Sluckis almost scored an identical goal to his opener but his lob landed wide.
Oakwood put the game to bed 10 minutes before the end as Dan Abrams added a third.
Oaks manager Jason Stein told JC Sport: "We were comfortably the better side today but we certainly made hard work of it by going behind after a minute or so.
"But the character the lads showed was magnificent. We'll need that quality with some big games to come.
"Dan Abrams made a long-awaited debut for Oakwood and marked it with a goal while James Abrams also impressed on his return to the side.
"We may have sealed the top spot in the group, but we'll be taking the Jewdinese game next week very seriously.
"There has been some needle between the two sides this year and I was surprised to hear they lost to Temple Fortune. The game against them is a good chance for us to work on some of the things I want us to improve on.
"I'm certainly looking forward to traveling to Nyon for the quarter final draw."
Hendon boss Adam Glekin admitted the best team won. He told JC Sport: "We were very short on numbers this week, we had a patched up side with several guys playing out of position and several carrying knocks.
"Special praise to Jono Nesbitt who was superb at full back and Ezekiel Jacob who held the defence together.
"We can't have any complaints today, we were beaten by a better side. The work rate was good, but quality wise we could not match them."
But the Hendon boss is confident his team can progress, saying "We're still in with a chance of qualification and hopefully a win over Temple Fortune next week will be enough to put us through."
