Sunday’s games in the Maccabi GB Southern Football League revolved around the first round of this year’s Peter Morrison Trophy with seven ties played.
Sukkotingham Forest booked their place in the next round the hard way, eventually prevailing 6-5 on penalties after drawing 2-2 with HMH Chollah.
Eytan Millan and Dillon Caine scored for Forest, with manager Sam Nagioff saying: “It was a strong performance against a good side. We were unlucky to concede in the final minutes but were composed from the spot to go through.”
Goals from Mitch Gerber and Jordan Bayer-Goldman saw Mill Hill Dons to a 2-0 win over 40 Year Wanderers, while two goals from Daniel Rinkoff helped Geez Park Rangers to an 8-2 win at Redbridge Jewish Care. Zach Jackson, Nate Rosenthal, Zack Green and Adam Bowman were also on target.
Top scorers of the day were Yallatasary, who won 11-4 at Hapoel Hampstead, while Millbrook Park Calcio came away from Oakwood Masters with a 5-0 win, London Lions U18s were emphatic 8-0 winners over Beitar Bushey.
Goals from Dani Rubenstein, Benjamin Woolich and Mordy Grossberg weren’t enough for Bochar Juniors as they lost 5-3 at home to Stoke Salmon. Woolich said: “It was a game of two halves, we fell behind in the first, the team made a valiant effort to get back into it, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.”
The one league game played saw Temple Fortune spurn the chance to go top of the table as they were beaten 4-1 at home by Mill Hill Minyan. Four different names got on the scoresheet for the victors, Saul Westbrook, James Shortland, Gabriel Arenson and Benjamin Dallal.
Hendo United booked their place into the next round of the London Sunday Challenge Cup as they defeated Hackney Borough 5-4 on penalties, having played out a 2-2 draw. Rocky Spitzer and Josh Harris scored their goals, before Harris, Yehuda Korman, Mordy Weiler, Joe Cohen and Alex Randall all converted from the spot. Manager Alex Rosenthal said: “It was a massive win against a tough side. The lads backed each other up constantly, played brave football and deservedly went 2-0 up. Annoyingly we conceded two late goals, but the boys reacted perfectly, scoring all five, with club legend Russell Corin winning the day, saving their decisive final kick.”
Maccabi Masters Football League title favourites Maccabi London Lions made it five wins from five to extend their lead to six points at the top of the table, but they were made to earn their latest three points, eventually seeing off Hendon Harriers 4-2. Harriers twice led through Adam Barton strikes, but Lions replied through a Bradley Lazarus double, along with strikes from Paul Allen and Scott Levy.
Harriers’ player-manager Perry Greenblatt said: “To be the first team to score against Lions this season and to give them such a tough battle for 85 minutes, even when we were down to ten men, was an incredible testament to their determination and effort. We definitely had Lions rattled at times, and I couldn’t be more proud of our performance.”
Top individual performance of the day was Gavin Sherman, who scored a double-hat-trick in Brady’s 7-0 win over EHRS Stonegrove. Martin Schultz added their seventh.
