|
Just
Enough
Lynx squeeze by
Pittsburgh with single goal.
by David Bailey, Special to
CanadaKicks
| The Toronto Lynx, struggling
with one win, two losses and having scored only twice, managed to squeak
out a narrow 1 nil victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Riverhounds in
front of an announced crowd of 1,173 although it apeared that many ticket
holders decided to avoid a cold and rainy Varsity
Stadium as attendance at kick-off could not have been more than
200.
Toronto controlled the match from beginning to end
with Pittsburgh rarely able to penetrate the stingy Lynx defence but as in
their three previous games, the Lynx' achilles heel was offence and
despite outshooting their opposition 20 to 7, they could only tally once
with David DiPlacido taking a nifty short pass from Lyndon Hooper and
blasting it past Randy Dedini in the Riverhounds goal in the 60th
minute.
The Toronto offence was relentless but excellent
chances by Kristian Grzetic (4th, 13th, 15th), Francisco Dos Santos (8th,
26th), Hooper (27th) and Juan Arango (83rd) all went for naught due
in good part to the solid goaltending of Dedini.
While Head Coach / General Manager Peter Pinizzotto
was pleased to halt the clubs two game losing streak, the lack of scoring
and more specifically the lack of productivity from Brazilian Dos Santos
was of obvious concern.
"(Dos Santos) is trying too hard right now. We
can't just depend on Kristian (two goals in 2001). At least we are
creating chances. If Francisco and Kristian start scoring some goals
we'll be fine" said Pinizzotto.
Of some relief to the coach is the return of Juan
Arango. A perennial starter in 2000 with nine goals, Arango had been
sidelined for the past month due to an ankle injury but Pinizzotto
inserted the striker into the line-up in the 63rd minute much to the
chagrin of the frustrated Dos Santos. While the Colombian did show some
ring rust, he was inches away from a sure goal in the 83rd minute when a
superb low cross from Grzetic was just out of his reach. While
Pinizzotto was obviously pleased to have the veteran striker back on the
field, he acknowledged that Arango is not yet ready to start stating "He
does not have the legs. He's not fast anyway and he has been missing
for a month (but) at least I have choices".
With the victory, Toronto leapfrogs the idle Rochester
Raging Rhinos and Long Island Roughriders into fourth place in the
A-League's Northern Conference with 8 points, one behind the
Riverhounds.
The Lynx return to action next Sunday against the
conference leading Hershey Wildcats who have managed an impressive 18
points in only five games. |