September 11, 2006 CSL Serbian White Eagles vs Toronto Croatias (from CSL website)
TORONTO CROATIA, SERBIANS AT IVOR WYNNE
Tuesday - September 12, 2006
Eagles bounce back
Serbian White Eagles turned the tables to defeat Toronto Croatia 3-1 at Ivor Wynne Stadium at Hamilton, the only game played in the CSL Monday night. The Eagles bounced back to make amends for the 3-0 loss to Croatia when the two teams met for the first time at Lamport Stadium in Toronto last Thursday.
The Eagles played with a renewed confidence in the early stages to show some crisp passing moves that resulted in the opening goal by forward Gabriel Pop at the 17th minute mark. The Romanian-born striker and the league’s leading goalscorer collected a ball from the left of the penalty box to find the net from five yards for his 19th of the season.
While Toronto Croatia pressed to get back on terms, they failed to break down the Eagles’ defence and the score held until the interval.
The Serbians continued with several sweeping moves in the second half and at the 53rd minute midfielder Milan Janosevic found the net to make it 2-0.
With Eagles starting to take charge there were heavy challenges midway through the second half and these led to several skirmishes and Pop being ejected at the 60th minute mark on a second yellow card by referee Joe Fletcher.
Sasa Viciknez made it 3-0 for White Eagles at 61 minutes for his 18th of the season and at the 78th minute Croatia’s Antonijo Zupan reduced the score to 3-1, the final result.
While experienced players forged the win for Serbian White Eagles, general manager Ken Stanojevich had high praise for the youngest player on the field. Milos Scepanovic, a just-turned-17 forward was prominent throughout and played an important part in the opening goal and the third Eagles’ goal struck by Viciknez. “He was there all the time and this was the first time he played a full game - he was outstanding,” said Stanojevich.
The win increases Serbian White Eagles lead in the International Division to six points with a 14-1-2 WLT record for 44 points, while Croatia is at 11-2-5 for 38 points. The two teams meet again on Sunday, September 24 back at Lamport Stadium.
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