Sport
ML Lions crowned Garston Vets League champions
Maccabi London Lions who finally managed to get their hands on the Garston Vets League trophy that had to date proved so elusive.
April 23, 2019 16:30
Maccabi London Lions who finally managed to get their hands on the Garston Vets League trophy that had to date proved so elusive.
April 23, 2019 16:30A 2-0 win away at Interwood,,previously National Masters champions, gave them the three points they needed to secure the title.
In a fiercely competitive game the visitors came out on top courtesy of strikes from Saul Conway and Daniel Stanton.
For the last seven seasons, the MLL side has been managed by Dan Jacobs, who was unsurprisingly elated at finally seeing the team get over the line.
“We joined this league a long time back, just as a way of prolonging everything that football had given us," said Jacobs.
“Initially the standard took us by surprise, with almost every side boasting a few ex-pros or certainly those that have played in the upper echelons of the non-league game. The first match we played I recall Giuliano Grazioli scoring six past us!
“But over the years we’ve improved steadily, gradually becoming competitive as we got fitter and managed to attract the very best in the community to come and play with us.
Dan Reuben helped me enormously over the years, with Rob Glass stepping up this year as we prepare to take the core of the group out to Mexico for the Pan-Am Games.
But to get our hands on this trophy really is an incredible achievement from a group of guys who are so together both on and off the pitch.”
The goals have been shared around, with Lee Cash, Mike Pearson and Saul Conway all registering 20-plus. And in Alex Levack they really have a captain who leads by example. But Jacobs is quick to stress that any success really has been a squad effort.
“While there are those that grab the headlines, our strength are the guys that continue to push themselves and therefore others. They know who they are and have the total respect of their peers.
"We like to think we run the side in a way that gets true value from each and everyone, and it’s off the back of this that we have achieved our success.”
The team still have the cup final to play in next weekend at the Bank of England ground, where they will hope to seal an historic double, but whatever happens, Jacobs should look back at an incredibly good job well done.