‘71 ⚽️ Emek Yezreel goal
‘87 ⚽️ Emek Yezreel goal
‘89 ⚽️ Emek Yezreel goal
‘92 ⚽️ Emek Yezreel goal
Top row (from left to right): Elijah Golding, Matt Keston, Tal Florentin, Eliran Pinto, Eli Kolach, Nate Sadoun, Mert Vasit, Alex Branum, Joey Spijer and James Green.
Bottom row (from left to right): Roman Shapiro, Roy Konfino, Niv Florentin, Sam Sank, Zack Shooter, Jayden Youngleson and Bari Pikin.
A match that would finish with a big scuffle between both teams and a scoreline very much not reflective of our performance that was outstanding for the majority of the game. However, we never recovered from their first goal and succumbed to defeat.
There were not so many chances for either team in the first half, Emek came closest in a moment where they hit the post from close range and we were lucky not to go one down. But, whilst they kept most of the possession, our defence was solid and no one was going past; the midfield were battling for everything and the attack closed down constantly.
We worked as a unit and frustrated Emek who picked up a number of yellow cards for shouting at the referee. In the second half, it became scrappy and we were not keeping possession as well, Emek came at us a lot but mainly with off-target shots.
Then, just after the 70th minute, Emek scored their first goal as we did try our best to stop the passage of play and even tried to take the fouls, but they stayed on their feet, got the shot away, which was saved by Roy Konfino but he couldn’t hold onto the ball and it, unfortunately, fell to their player for a tap in.
We then had a couple of good chances to equalise as we pushed forward; Zack Shooter came close to goal but couldn’t find the angle to finish and Sam Sank with a free header from a set-piece but didn’t get the power behind it.
In the 82nd minute, Matt Keston changed the formation as we needed to score twice and pushed us to only two defenders with three men upfront and five in midfield.
It is because of this that the score line became unreflective as when we pushed forward they caught us on the break and scored 3 goals in the final few minutes.