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2nd Half:...half starts 9:39pm.
halftime sub...HT Guzman replaces somebody.
45 min...HT Simpson charges into goalie trying to play header and wins cornerkick.
46 min...HT player's cornerkick from right is whistled down in box.
50 min...Astros Dos Santos cuts through middle and 35 yard shot with goalie off line just wide left.
51 min...Astros goalie catches cross from right.
54 min...HT player's cornerkick from left is worked out by two players and cross is deflected in box and play whistled down.
56 min...HT YELLOW card...Cardenas for complaining about a freekick call.
57 min...HT sub...Miles O'Connor replaces Cardenas.
..............HT sub...Velastegui replaces Moya.
58 min...HT Dukic header from 15 yards just wide left of net after good cross from right.
60 min...HT player's cornerkick from left this time booted into box but first defender clears.
62 min...Astros sub...Flores replaces somebody.
63 min...Astros Compton Hall 25 yard shot through middle that goalie pushed wide right on his dive.
63 min...Astros player's cornerkick from right is blown down in box.
65 min...Astros YELLOW card...Politi for sliding tackle on HT Deluca at center.
66 min...HT sub...Curic replaces Busic.
68 min...Astros Dos Santos 40 yard low freekick hits gopher hole and pops up that goalie pushes over net at last second.
69 min...HT Guzman leads 3 on 1 but kicks from 7 yards that goalie blocks.
71 min...HT YELLOW card...Dajak for tripping Astros player almost inside HT box.
72 min...Astros Dos Santos 20 yard freekick is low and hits defender in box.
76 min...HT Guzman 20 yard kick stopped by flying goalie.
78 min...Thunder Peter Curic GOAL...Curic gets pass through middle and slides 12 yard shot into right side of net off right post.
80 min...Astros Pagliere injured just inside own box.
82 min...Astros sub...Singh replaces injured Pagliere before play resumes.
83 min...HT sub...Crnic replaces Simpson.
85 min...Thunder Kevin Deserpa GOAL...on four-on-one break, Deserpa gets centering pass and volleys ball in from 10 yards.
86 min...Astros sub...Bralitic replaces Compton Hall.
................Astros sub...Silva replaces Miranda in goal.
87 min...Thunder Peter Curic GOAL...Curic heads in ball from 10 yards.
87 min...HT sub...Pelc replaces Ferrari in goal.
90 min...Astros goalie leaps to catch 30 yarder.
91:26 min...game ends.
Final Score:..............North York Astros.............0................Hamilton Thunder................4...............
Attendance was about 100 mostly pro-Thunder fans on this warm evening.
Roberto Ferrari earned the shutout for the Thunder although he was substituted in the last four minutes for back-up Dan Pelc. It wasn't an easy game for them even with a two man advantage because Ferrari was caught off his line and was lucky that a shot just curved wide of the post and an Astros 40 yard freekick by Francisco Dos Santos looked like it hit some kind of bump in the field and deflected up that the goalie just pushed over the net at the last second.
The Thunder should have put this game out of reach much earlier than they did. They should retake second place after tonight's game in the weak Western Conference but the division looks like the CFL football East with the Alouettes (Brampton Hitmen) well ahead of the sub .500 teams (Argos/Renegades/Ti-Cats). The Astros have a hard time scoring at full strength so playing two men down for more than half the game wasn't going to help their cause. Astros goalie Luciano Miranda good performance and the Thunder's poor finishing until the last 15 minutes kept the game close. Kevin Deserpa had the most chances in the game and had two goals but Peter Curic only came on at the 66 minute mark and had the other two goals.
Astros have a very nice full colour glossy program given out at the game. Complete schedule of the Astros and their reserve team, team photo, and head-shots of each player and bio. Of course, late in the season much of the info is obsolete.
Ding, Ding! Tonight makes 25 CPSL games I've watched so far this year. The only team I haven't seen yet is London City.
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This was what I'd rate my worst report write-up of the year. The numbers on the game sheets didn't co-ordinate with the players on the field and I couldn't straighten up the changes throughout the game. There was another web site operator distracting me by asking questions and not the least bit interested by the game. Quite a few plays I've had to drop because of half sentences.
I also caught flak for my comments about the game program. I called it at the time and that it was nice but by that time of the season, 50% of the team had turned over so photos and numbers don't match the current players.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
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