London
Free Press: London City Fizzles in Second Loss
by Winnipeg Fury
London City fizzles in second loss
By STEVE GREEN -- London
Free Press
If things don't get better in a hurry for London City, the
Canadian Professional Soccer League team could find itself in a crisis of
confidence that could undermine its entire season.
Two games into the
campaign and City have already conceded nine goals, five of them coming
yesterday in a 5-0 demolition by the expansion Montreal Dynamite before about
250 spectators at Cove Road field.
Gerry Pean and Kyriakos Selaidopoulos
both scored twice for the Dynamite, who took advantage of some hesitant City
defending that gave Montreal's forwards plenty of time and space.
Bruno Nue
got the other Montreal goal.
City weren't without their chances, however.
Gentjan Dervishi was just wide with a free kick from outside the box in the 67th
minute and Kyle Cornet came close twice inside a minute, volleying off the
crossbar and then stopped by Montreal goalkeeper Sergio Guerra seconds later.
"That one hurts," said City general manager-coach Harry Gauss. "People who
weren't here are going to see a 5-0 score and Montreal wasn't really full-value
for that.
"The saddest part was looking across the field and seeing some of
our guys fold their tents. This team can't seem to take any adversity whatsoever
-- everyone seems to have a glass skin at the moment."
Gauss agreed the
Dynamite had far too much time on the ball.
"When the opponent's getting a
lot of time and you're getting kicked around, you'd think after a while you'd
counter by doing the same thing. Now we have to go back to the drawing board,
work on what we see happening and, hopefully, correct this.
"The bottom line
is you can't worry about a goal that's gone in. You have to think ahead but
right now we're worried about what's already happened."
Pean opened the
scoring in the 14th minute, running onto a high ball and volleying it over Scott
Mueller in the London goal. Nue made it 2-0 a minute before the half, pouncing
on a ball that had been fumbled by Mueller.
The killer goal came in the
69th. Karl Stephen beat Mueller to a ball in the box and was allowed several
seconds to control the ball near the bye-line as no City defender moved to close
him down. He picked out Selaidopoulos, unmarked at the top of the box, and
blasted it home.
Poor marking allowed Pean to chest the ball down in the box
and score in the 78th minute.
Selaidopoulos rounded out the scoring in the
final seconds as he beat the offside trap and chipped the ball over Mueller's
head.
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