Bocher Juniors moved to within 180 minutes of crowning their debut season in the Maccabi GB Southern Football League (MGBSFL) with silverware, though manager Joel Ucko is refusing to get carried away.
February 12, 2025 10:39
ByMaccabi GB, Andrew Sherwood
The side, which was formed just weeks before the start of the season, booked their place in the semi-finals of the David Wolff Division Two Cup on Sunday morning thanks to a 5-3 win over 40 Year Wanderers, but Ucko insists it’s just a case of taking things one game at a time. “We would of course love to win a trophy, but our priority is always the next game”, he says. “I’m not looking beyond that and am not allowing my players to get distracted by anything other than the current assignment.”
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Bocher Juniors' Dave Amor (yellow) sweeps home the first of his two goals against 40 Year Wanderers on Sunday morning. Picture Credit: Georgia Rosenberg.[Missing Credit]
Having to earn their victory, they found themselves 3-1 down at one stage, though two goals from Dave Armon, along with Avishai Marcus netting on his debut, plus strikes from Solly Levy and Ben Woolich completed an impressive turnaround.
Reflecting on the performance, he said: “Overall I’m delighted with it. I thought we controlled the play for the first 35 minutes and apart from a sloppy 10 minutes leading up to the break and at the beginning of the second half in which we found ourselves 3-1 down, I thought the lads were outstanding.
“The resilience, determination, hunger and desire to win in this team is remarkably good, and that courage and bravery today allowed us to go on and turn the game around. On balance I think 5-3 was about right. Credit to them, who with a paper-thin squad made a real game of it, but ultimately I felt our performance in the first and final half an hour of the game was so dominant that we deserved the win, although they can be rightly proud of their contribution to a wonderful game.”
While looking forward to competing in the last four of this competition, they could also still have a late charge in Division Two and possibly secure promotion. Currently lying in sixth place, though with games in hand on all the sides above them, Ucko said: “As a new team it’s definitely taken time for us to adapt, although I’m really pleased with how we are growing as a team. To go four games unbeaten is fantastic and the togetherness in this team is special. Of course we would love to get promoted, and that is of course the aim, although as I said earlier, we’re only interested in focussing on one game at a time without getting distracted by the bigger picture.”
Joining them in the last four of the competition are Sukkotingham Forest, where a hat-trick from Josh Summerfield inspired them to a 6-0 win over Rapid Viennas. Eytan Millan, Louis Deacon and
Ben Byre scored their other goals, with manager Sam Nagioff saying: “It was a very comfortable win for the boys. Building on from our league success, we look forward to progressing in this cup.”
In the Premier Division, HMH A closed the gap on leaders Hendon United to four points as they enjoyed a comprehensive 5-0 win over Stoke Salmon. Elsewhere the bottom two sides locked horns, which unsurprisingly ended in a share of the spoils as champions Oakwood came away from Hapoel Hampstead with a 2-2 draw, Matt Davidson and Jack Naftalin scoring for Hampstead.
Division One champions Yallatasary continued their 100% winning run, though were made to fight to secure their 12th consecutive league win as they edged a seven-goal thriller, coming away from Mill Hill Dons with a 4-3 win. Oliver Kent scored twice, with Ben Fox and Freddie Land also scoring. Ben Rodol scored twice for The Dons, with Joshua Reuben also on target.
In the Maccabi Masters Football League, Scrabble moved joint-level with Maccabi London Lions at the top of the Division One table as they fought back from going a goal behind to beat Temple Fortune 3-1.
A freak Jon Yantin own goal from outside his own box put Fortune ahead, but an unstoppable Nigel Goldthorpe half-volley levelled the scores before half-time. For the third week running, Scrabble’s Mark Wagman then turned it on after the break, scoring two solo goals.
In Division Two, EHRS Stonegrove moved to the top of the table as two goals from Jeremy Derman and one from Gary Good saw them to a 3-0 win over Glenthorne.
London Lions’ First XI are through to the semi-finals of the Spartans South Midlands Football League Premier Division Cup thanks to a 3-1 win over Cockfosters. After a goalless first half, Lions went in front when Mikey Perkins’ cross was turned into his own net by Cockfosters defender Jandir Da Cruz. Da Cruz then popped up at the other end to draw his side level, though they weren’t level for long, Lions regaining the lead when Max Davis was brought down in the box, with Austin Lipman converting the resulting spot kick. Perkins then got on the scoresheet seven minutes from time to secure the win, where they will now face Biggelswade United for a place in the final.
London Lions’ Development team have dropped down to 11th place in the Herts Senior County League ACERBIS Premier Division after they fell to a 6-1 home defeat to Cuffley Seniors First, Franklyn Hyman’s strike proving to be their only highlight on the day.