With six wins in
their last seven games including a four match winning
streak in which their goals against average was a
sparkling 0.00, the Toronto Lynx were due for a loss and
it was handed to them in a big way by the A-League
expansion Riverhounds of Pittsburgh who demolished the
Lynx 4 nil in front of an announced crowd of 1,853 at
Varsity Stadium, Toronto.
Despite the Lynx superb defensive record of late, they
found themselves under pressure from the kick-off.
In the 18th minute, Toronto was caught short at the back
with one defender facing four Riverhound attackers.
The ball ended up at the feet of Ugandan international
Tenywa Bonseau but his attempt to slip the ball under an
onrushing Theo Zagar was weak and the Lynx goaltender was
able to handle the shot with little difficulty.
Disaster struck the Lynx in the 28th minute when
Brazilian striker Dos Santos was red carded during a
melee just outside the Toronto box. The incident
began when the Riverhounds were awarded a free kick for
an incident that appeared to happen inside the Toronto
penalty area but was placed three metres outside the box
by the referee. A Riverhound moved the ball to
within one metre of the box only to have a Lynx player
object and push the Pittsburgh player. A general
free for all of pushing and shoving ensued but Dos Santos
was the only player disciplined.
Five minutes later, Pittsburgh's leading scorer Mike
Butler broke down the right wing and got past his marker,
only to have his low hard shot saved by Zagar.
Unfortunately, the rebound landed at the feet of Jaman
Tripoli who had the whole net to shoot at to score his
second goal of the season.
Lynx defender Milan Kojic almost game the Riverhounds a
two goal lead in the 43rd minute when he deflect a cross
onto the crossbar. The rebound bounced directly to
Allen Eller but his header went directly into the hands
of Zagar.
Pittsburgh came close again in the 45th minute.
Jacek Kot crossed the ball to Eller who dipsy-doodled
around two Lynx defenders and sent a short pass to Phil
Karn. Zagar made an excellent save to hold the lead to
one, but only briefly.
With just 20 seconds remaining in the half, Pittsburgh
struck again. Justin Evans crossed to a wide open Mike
Butler at the far post. Butler's diving header, from only
inches above the ground, cleanly beat a helpless Zagar as
he scored his team leading sixth goal of the season.
Five minutes into the second half, the Lynx came close to
cutting into the visitor's lead. Nikki Vignjevic
gave a short pass to Lloyd Barker who neatly turned and
sent a 20 metre curling shot just wide of the far post.
In the 67th minute, Pittsburgh missed a glorious
opportunity to extend their lead and achieve their bonus
point but Phil Karn hammered his shot off the goal post.
Lynx back-up goaltender Zagar again came up big for
Toronto 13 minutes later when the ball found Justin Evans
alone at the top of the goal crease. His point
blank shot was brilliantly saved by Zagar, the only
reason the Lynx weren't run out of the park.
The Riverhounds would finally get the all important bonus
point goal in the 85th minute when David Flavius beat his
defender and broke in alone on goal. His
unstoppable shot beat Zagar for his second goal of the
season.
Three minutes later and with the clock merciful clicking
down, Gary DePalma sent a superb cross to the far post
from the vicinity of the corner flag. Michael
Apple, timing his run to perfection, headed the ball past
Zagar scoring his fourth goal of the season.
This loss, Toronto's worst since a six nil drubbing at
the hands of the Montreal Impact on July 1, 1998 in
Ottawa, was particularly costly as it allowed the
Riverhounds, with two games in hand, to go seven points
up on the Lynx as both teams fight for a play-off berth
in the very competitive eastern conference.
Notes: The expansion Riverhounds are an attendance
success story averaging 4,232 at Bethel Park Stadium
behind only Rochester (10,864), Hershey (5,092) and
Vancouver (4,342) ..... Pittsburgh coach John Kowalski
spent two years at the helm of MLS's Tampa Bay Mutiny
plus had a stint as interim head coach of the US World
Cup team prior to the hiring of Bora Milutinovic .....
the Lynx were without defender Marco Reda and midfielder
Chris Pozniak who were with the Canada B that defeated
Bradford City of the English 1st Division 3 nil at a
tournament in St. Kitts - Nevis ..... Theo Zagar,
came up big
while #1 keeper Jim Larkin was with Canada for the Saudi
Arabia match ..... Zagar was named to the A-League's team
of the week in recognition of his fine play ..... Despite
the four goals, Zagar played a superb game for Toronto
making six outstanding saves ..... in contrast,
Pittsburgh keeper Randy Dedini was forced to make only
one save ..... Dedini was recently called up by Colorado
Rapids of MLS to back-up Ian Feuer in matches against
Kansas City and DC United ..... the Rapids must still be
a concern to MLS as their July 7th match vs. Colorado
drew only 4,631 on a wonderful night for soccer .....
Alex Bunbury scored his second goal for KC in that match
..... the Lynx play their next home game on Sunday July
25th at 7pm vs. the Rochester Raging Rhinos in a match
that can be seen live on CTV Sportsnet. |
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