'5 ⚽️ 1-0 Emek Yezreel goal
'37⚽️ 2-0 Emek Yezreel goal
'42 ⚽️ 3-0 Emek Yezreel goal
'65 ⚽️ 4-0 Emek Yezreel goal
'70 🔴 Red Card: James Green
'71 ⚽️ 4-1 Eli Kolach goal, Asher Goldberg assist
'73 ⚽️ 5-1 Emek Yezreel goal
'74 🔴 Red Card: Eliran Pinto
'79 ⚽️ 6-1 Emek Yezreel goal
'84 ⚽️ 7-1 Emek Yezreel goal
'90 ⚽️ 8-1 Emek Yezreel goal
Top row (from left to right): Sam Sank, Jayden Youngleson, Tal Florentin, Ben Mordukhovich, Nate Sadoun, Joey Spijer, Matt Keston, Asher Goldberg, Roy Konfino, Zack Shooter and Eliran Pinto.
Bottom row (from left to right): Idan Yohanan, Roman Shapiro, Niv Florentin, Eli Kolach, James Green, Dudu Kreimer and Eduardo Sterenberg.
Wow, this was a bizarre game. The first thing to say is Emek Yezreel has not lost a game this season and they do smash most teams every week, our draw against them last time was fantastic. They turned up very sharp this time though and took their chances, whereas the few chances we had we didn’t take and that could have tilted the game. 8-1 was really not such a reflection of what happened; we had a number of people missing and because of injuries during the game people ended up playing out of position too.
We started really well but then just a ball over the top after 5 minutes caught us out and we found ourselves 1-0 down quickly. We did however then start playing some nice football and had a chance from a few yards out to equalise which unfortunately Eduardo Sterenberg just missed.
Then after a great first half, we let in two goals in the last 8 minutes of it; one really well-worked move by Emek that was impressive to watch although we did give them too much respect in the build-up. Then, a stunning free-kick we couldn’t do anything about. So we found ourselves 3-0 down at halftime without playing so badly, but that can happen against the better teams.
We came out in the second half and played great; created two really good chances which should have put us on the scoresheet, one of which Joey Spijer missed with a header that went agonisingly close. Then we were punished for our missed chances with another really nice goal and move by Emek.
At 4-0, we got a free-kick which James Green went to take; he was pushed by an opponent, so he pushed the Emek player back and received a yellow card for his troubles. The Emek players swore at James and he swore back in front of the referee, a second yellow and red for James, all whilst waiting to take the free-kick. Ironically as soon as we went down to 10 men, we scored from the same free-kick as Asher Goldberg found Eli Kolach in the box who finished nicely to make it 4-1.
We struggled quickly without an extra man in the middle and Emek scored a few minutes after to make it 5-1. Then Eliran Pinto got a deserved straight red card for a bad late challenge and we were down to 9 men. The last 15 minutes became shooting practice for Emek and they scored for three more. Manager Matt Keston was impressed with the player's effort at 9 men, people still gave their all.
So a harsh scoreline in a game where for the most part ironically we actually played really nicely, but against the top teams, you need a bit of luck and have to finish any chance you get or you are punished, while the red cards ended the game completely.