A stunning extra-time strike from Nick Lewis ended the cup aspirations of Redbridge Jewish Care B after an epic contest in hte Peter Morrison Trophy in Wembley.
PETER MORRISON TROPHY
NORTH LONDON RAIDERS A 4 REDBRIDGE JEWISH CARE B 3 (AET)
A fierce and bruising encounter was played between the reigning double-winning Premier Divisions champions Raiders A and the Division One title-chasers Redbridge B.
RJC's game-plan was a very simple and well-executed plan - to sit back, soak up the pressure and hit Raiders on the counter. As soon as Raiders hit the RJC B half, they were pressed. This ensured Raiders could not get behind the back-line of RJC B. This also meant the possession ratio was 85 to 15 in favour of Raiders.
So the game settled down in this style, with Raiders trying to break the back-line, with mostly diagonal switch balls or lofty passes over the back four.
Then on 25-minute marker, RJC broke on the counter, with Dean Ben Yosef taking on two NLR men before knocking a beautiful 60-yard half0volley diagonal ball to Adam Goldman. He cut inside the Raiders right-back, his shot was blocked, and ball bounced back to Goldman, who passed for the returning Daniel Orgel to finish emphatically into the Raiders net to give RJC B a 1-0. Shortly after, Orgel had to go off due to a injury.
The rest of the half continued in the same manner, with Raiders having a lot of the ball, but not doing much with it.
Then on the stroke of half-time, Raiders had a free-kick on the right-hand side. A good delivery into box was not cleared and NLR midfielder Jack Roberts was the quickest to respond and toe poke in to make the score 1-1.
This was a blow to RJC B, but they regrouped and the half-time whistle sounded.Once again the game settled down, with Raiders trying to break the strong back line of RJC.
Then once again, a little bit of pressure from RJC new boy Kane Hoops forced an error from an NLR defender who gave a poor back-pass which Hopps ran on to and finished brilliant with half-volley lob over the keeper to restore RJC's advantage with 30 minutes remaining.
Then a turning point in the game as an RJC midfielder was tripped three times by an NLR player. The referee did not blow for a foul at which point the RJC player retaliated and was sent off.
RJC B boys regrouped and were working on overdrive to retain the upper hand. Then with 10 minutes to go, a quick long-throw from the NLR full-back released NLR winger Joe Cohen who drove into the box and squared for David Cohen to finish clinically into the corner of the net to make the scores 2-2.
The 10 men of RJC B stayed strong to ensure this game went into extra time. The game continued in the same flow as the majority of the game, with Raiders having the possession but not creating much with it.
RJC got to first half of extra time still at 2-2. Then on 110 minutes, NLR star man Nick Lewis picked up the ball on the semi-circle, played a couple of one-twos, went past the RJC centre-back and finished brilliantly with left slice drilled half volley to give NLR A a 3-2 lead.
RJC B now had to now push forward, and they were awarded a free-kick in the NLR half. A good delivery by Adam Goldman and the ball was squared from the back post to recent arrival, centre back Scott Kay to finish from six yards out to put the scores level with six mins to go.
With penalties looming an attempted substitution was allowed by the ref due to a quick throw-in by Raiders. Then Lewis picked up the ball, drove at the RJC B backline, and unleashed a fantastic shot from 25 yards into the top corner, worthy of winning any match.
Overall, it was brilliant performance from the RJC B boys who gave me "a performance every manager could wish for". RJC B do have a very big squad, but with a lot of injuries, the new signings who came in "were just outstanding". Special mentions today go to the back five who stood up to challenge manager Sam Rank had asked from them and were "simply incredible".
RJC boss Sam Rank told JC Sport: "Fair play to Raiders, who found it frustrating at times, but won the cup tie with a brilliant goal.
"We wish them good luck for the remainder of competition, unless they play our A-team!"
NLR boss Dan Shafron told JC Sport: "Credit to Redbridge, they came with a game-plan and very nearly executed it.
"They worked incredibly hard, defended us well and took their three chances when they came. We made really hard work of it but a win is a win and we're relieved to be through to the next round."
