The champagne remains on ice for Redbridge Jewish Care B in terms of the title, but both they and Norstar London Raiders B were toasting promotion after a four-goal thriller at Brunel.
February 9, 2015 11:14
ByDanny Caro, Danny Caro
MGBSFL DIVISION ONE
NORSTAR LONDON RAIDERS B 2 REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B 2
The champagne remains on ice for Redbridge Jewish Care B in terms of the title, but both they and Norstar London Raiders B were toasting promotion after a four-goal thriller at Brunel.
The draw confirmed Premier Division football for both teams next season, with Camden Park and Blizzard Storm no longer able to catch them.
Despite both teams missing key players the sides served up another ding dong classic. Raiders started very strongly, playing with real intensity, and they forged ahead through a lovely combination between Josh Morris, Josh Green and Jake Gilbert, with Gilbert calmly slotting home.
Raiders had a chances to extend the lead, with Gilbert hitting the post and Green forced a superb save from RJC keeper Brad Grant with a close range header at the end of a sweeping move involving the same three players.
The loss of both Sollosi brothers - Ben and Nathan - seemed to disturb the shape of the RJC midfield and they resorted to long balls that bypassed the midfield.
With his team in the ascendency at the break, NLR boss Jonathan Adelman told JC Sport: "If I had one regret at half-time, it was that we hadn't got more than one goal to show for our dominance."
RJC boss Jon Jacobs tore into his troops and reminded them of what was needed, calmness and composure on the ball and playing through the midfield.
Within two minutes, the scores were level. Redbridge came out all guns blazing in the second half and, after a great advantage was played by the ref, the ball was crossed by Adam Goldman and a calm touch by James Berkley and smart finish into the middle of the net, finally beating the heroics of David Simnock in the Raiders goal. It was game on!
It was now all Redbridge, who were swarming all over NLR for a 20-minute period, with leading scorer Daniel Garfinkle hitting the bar and forcing a fabulous save from Simnock.
The sucker punch came with about 20 minutes to go, with another simple through ball allowing Josh Green to sweep home a lovely finish from just inside the box, with nearly a quarter of the game left.
Jacobs shuffled his packed, with Alex Chernoff replacing Jimmy Castle at right-back, and it was from him that the defining play was made; a pass down the line found Goldman whose centre was taken down by the outstanding Oldstein and with a richochet, bundling the ball in to the net.
There was around 10 minutes left, both teams tried to win it but the defences held firm.
RJC's first draw of the season sees them guarentee promotion with three games left and needing pne win for the title.
Redbridge boss Jon Jacobs told JC Sport: "I am proud of all of the boys who have achieved so much this season. I have managed some of these boys since they were six-years-old, so couldn't be happier.
"Credit again to Jonathan Adelman and his Raiders team; they fully deserve to be going up with us and having given us the 2 best games of the season, we'll look forward to renewing acquaintance next season in the Premier League and continuing the rivalry."
NLR boss Jonathan Adelman told JC Sport: "It's a pleasure to be part of games like this on a Sunday morning and for such an intense rivalry, there is great respect between Jon and myself and the two sets of players.
"We congratulate Redbridge on the title which they are sure to win and which they deserve this season.
"For us, we're just delighted to have secured back-to-back promotions, especially after such a disrupted season of injuries and absences. We've shown huge character and we've had some outstanding performances over the course of the season - we want to finish off with a win against Blizzard and then see if we can get back to Wingate in the Barry Goldstein."
