May 20, 2012 PDL--Toronto Lynx vs FC London (by Rocket Robin)

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Result of the PDL game of Sunday May 20, 2012 between Toronto Lynx and FC London played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 4:00pm.

Toronto Lynx (all black, white numbers)

.....................30 Matthew Silva
2 Callum Home...5 Konner McNamara...6 Eric Crawford...3 Al James
10 Leigh Veidman...11 Andrew Derayeh...8 Aaron McKenna...18 Randy Ribero
................15 James Galvani...7 Macc Wilde

Subs:...00 Kerry Ashton (gk)...4 Terence Smith (def)...9 Jon Costa (fwd)...14 Danny Iannacito (mid)...17 Jadon Bingham (mid) ...20 Ryan McLeod (mid)...23 Justin Gordon (fwd)
team officials:...head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coach Billy Steele

FC London (all white, hollow white numbers)

.......................1 Reece Richardson
2 Josh Hughes...4 Rene Dezorzi...28 Chris Dillon...3 Gary Ogilvie
..........8 Tom Owens...20 Nuno Gorgal...24 Tyler Hemming
.........17 Denver Spearman...10 Bryan Dacruz...45 Martin Lange

Subs:...1 Mark Haynes (gk)...5 Alex Lewis (def)...7 Sam Blackburn (--)...11 Jordan Ayris (fwd)...18 Conner McFall (mid) ...19 Dominic Syska (mid)
team officials:...head coach Martin Painter

Game officials:...referee Scott Decker...referee's assistants Joe Piacente and Alex Themistocleous...no fourth official ...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st half:...game starts 4:00pm...Lynx defend south end on this hot day with the sun in the south west.
3 min...FCL goalie picks up bounced header from 20 yards.
7 min...FCL RED card...Denver Spearman earns a direct ejection from referee Scott Decker for a studs-up tackle on Lynx Al James injurying him at Lynx 53 yard line.
9 min...Lynx Veidman rush up right and low cross near end line is cleared by defender.
9 min...Lynx James returns to game.
12 min...FCL Dacruz given through pass up middle but defender catches up at 20 yards to poke ball away without a shot.
14 min...FCL Hughes 55 yard freekick from right has defenders block shot attempts on left side of box.
17 min...FCL Owens 38 yard freekick from right has defender head ball away on left edge of box.
19 min...FCL Owens cornerkick from left has FCL player heads away from edge of box.
21 min...FCL YELLOW card...Owens earns it for sliding tackle on Lynx McKenna at FCL 43 yards.
23 min...FCL Owens 25 yard freekick from right near end line has FCL Lange charge to left post but pops header wide.
25 min...Lynx James Galvani GOAL...Galvani blasts a 35 yard shot down the middle through a crowd of players that dips just under the bar in the center of the net with goalie Reece Richardson trying to knock it away.
26 min...Lynx YELLOW card...McNamara earns it for pushing at Lynx 35 yards.
26 min...FCL Ogilvie blasts 35 yard freekick down middle just over bar.
27 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Ribero earns it for shirt grab of FCL Lange at Lynx 45 yards.
31 min...FCL Ogilvie 55 yard cross from left is caught by goalie wide right of net almost sliding ball out of box. (the FCL goalie almost slides out of box stopping through ball).
33 min...Lynx Galvani long run 1 on 1 with defender on left and low cross from end line has goalie dives forward to smother.
34 min...Lynx McKenna rush on right and low cross from 20 yards is smothered by goalie.
34 min...FCL Dillon long throw-in from left has defender in box heads ball away.
35 min...Lynx Ribero rush on left and crosses from 30 yards that has charging Lynx Wilde take a midair shot from 10 yards on right that is blocked by the goalie tipping it for a cornerkick.
36 min...Lynx Derayeh 25 yard cross from left is caught and dropped by leaping goalie in crowd of players then smothered.
39 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Wilde earns it for tackle on FCL Dillon dribbling out of FCL box.
44 min...FCL Hughes 35 yard cross near right sideline is caught by goalie.
45 min...FCL Dillon blasts clearance at 22 yards off Lynx Galvani at 25 yards and ball deflects back to leaping goalie to grab.
46 min...FCL goalie races out to 30 yards to clear through ball before Lynx Galvani can get to it.
46 min...half ends 4:46pm.

For halftime the FCL subs warm up while Lynx players all go back to the locker room to keep cool.

2nd Half:...starts 5:03pm.
47 min...FCL Ogilvie freekick from 30 yards on right drops between players and bounces wide left of net.
48 min...Lynx Veidman dekes players on right and low cross from 30 yards has goalie pick up on bounce.
50 min...FCL Owens is injured in center circle with head injury unnoticed as play on by FCL players.
53 min...Lynx Ribero beats a defender to the ball at the left cornerflag and crosses the ball into the box. Lynx Veidman has the ball drop behind the FCL goalie and a defender at 6 yards but he has his shot blocked by a defender and the rebound was also stopped but he does win a cornerkick on the right.
56 min...Lynx James gets back to break up FCL 2 on 1 rush on right at 22 yards.
57 min...FCL Ogilvie cornerkick from right is over players in box and ball bounces for throw-in.
59 min...FCL Gorgal cross from 30 yards and an FCL player behind the defence stops and cuts in a 10 yard shot that the goalie stops.
59 min...FCL Ogilvie shot from 22 yards is just wide left of net.
60 min...Lynx sub...Iannacito replaces Ribero.
60 min...Lynx McKenna is injured in Lynx box.
64 min...Lynx YELLOW card...Galvani earns it for complaining about call. Referee consults with assistants before giving card.
64 min...FCL Tom Owens GOAL...Owens takes low 20 yard shot from the right that deflects off possibly two defenders and hops over sprawling goalie Matthew Silva into center of net.
66 min...Lynx Home 45 yard shot from right sideline is over net.
68 min...Lynx sub...Smith replaces James.
........FCL sub...Blackburn replaces Lange.
69 min...FCL Gorgal rolls 30 yard through ball up middle that goalie picks up.
71 min...FCL Owens 35 yard freekick from left has ball popped up at 10 yards on right for goalkick.
72 min...Lynx sub...Costa replaces Galvani.
73 min...Lynx Derayeh 25 yard shot up middle is high and wide right of goal.
75 min...FCL Hemming rush along the 23 yard line and cuts in a shot just wide left of the post.
76 min...FCL sub...Ayris replaces Dacruz.
.......Lynx sub...Bingham replaces Derayeh.
78 min...Lynx sub...Gordon replaces Wilde.
79 min...FCL Owens 55 yard freekick has ball go through hands of charging goalie over his head but wide left of net. Lynx win freekick for offside or bumping on play.
82 min...Lynx Gordon wins cornerkick on cross deflection from 15 yards.
84 min...FCL Blackburn cornerkick from right has FCL Ayris flick 10 yard header in middle wide left of net.
86 min...FCL Jordan Ayres GOAL...Ayres blasts 20 yard shot down the middle into the center of the net.
86 min...Lynx sub...McLeod replaces Home.
87 min...FCL sub...Lewis replaces Ogilvie.
88 min...Lynx Gordon cornerkick from right has Lynx player head ball down in box but it's cleared.
89 min...FCL Owens 25 yard freekick from right wins another freekick on short rush play.
91 min...Lynx Iannacito 30 yard freekick from right is knocked around but Lynx Bingham kicks 25 yarder down middle is well over net.
94:08 min...game ends 5:52pm.

Final Score:.....Toronto Lynx......1.........FC London.......2......

Attendance was about 125 on this hot day with a bright sun in the west which effected both teams equally as the field aligns north-south.

The Lynx looked good in the first half. They chose not to have their subs warm up during halftime while FCL did in the hot weather. The second half was almost completely dominated by FCL at a time when you'd expect the man disadvantage would be the most pronounced.

The Red card play was unncessary--not giving out the card but why make a sliding tackle in the middle of the field when the player wasn't even on a rush? At 21 minutes FCL Tom Owens earned a Yellow card for a sliding tackle on Lynx Aaron McKenna at the FCL 43 yard line. At 31 minutes we saw FCL Gary Ogilvie take a 55 yard cross from the left and the Lynx goalie caught the ball wide right of the net and almost slid out of the box but he kept his arms holding the ball on the ground inside the box. The FCL goalie in the same minute then almost slid out of the box stopping a through ball but kept the ball back in the box. These are the kind of plays you expect to see on field turf after a rainstorm but it's been dry for a few days.

Best non-scoring chances were at 35 minutes when Lynx Randy Ribero rushed on the left and crossed from 30 yards that had a charging Lynx Macca Wilde take a midair shot from 10 yards on right that was blocked by the goalie tipping it for a cornerkick. 53 minutes had Lynx Ribero beat a defender to the ball at the left cornerflag and crossed the ball into the box. Lynx Leigh Veidman had the ball drop behind the FCL goalie and a defender at 6 yards but he has his shot was blocked by a defender and the rebound was also stopped and he won a cornerkick on the right. 59 minutes had FCL Nuno Gorgal cross from 30 yards and an FCL player behind the defence stopped and cut in a 10 yard shot that the goalie stopped. 75 minutes had FCL Tyler Hemming rush along the 23 yard line and cut in a shot just wide left of the post.

Unlike the Lady Lynx team which I saw yesterday, this year's male Lynx team has 12 players on the game roster from last year's squad that I recognized.

FC London wore all white uniforms with hollow white numbers. It made them almost impossible to tell apart even with my binoculars so I couldn't be descriptive on the goals to give out any assists. Maybe their philosophy is that no player is bigger than the team but this team is NOT the US Men's Olympic basketball team which dressed like that years ago for that reason.

This was the fourth home opener in a row with FC London as the opposition. The Lynx have never beaten them since FCL joined the PDL in 2009. Their first meeting was the Lynx home opener that year which resulted in a 1-1 tie. Since then FCL have now won their seven meetings since.

Tyler Hemming is back for another year playing as a midfielder for FCL. He played for the 2007 and 2008 editions of the MLS Toronto FC team. Last year's goalie Jarrett Humphreys is NOT back after a series of concussions ended his playing career. I read that sad news at the web site http://www.thecord.ca/articles/49182. I have a picture of one of the concussions mentioned on my web page at: http://22066.vws.magma.ca/reports11/11lynx10.htm. He was the goalie for the first Toronto FC Academy game in 2008.

Next Toronto Lynx game is a schoolday match on Wednesday May 23rd at 11:00am when they play Hamilton Rage.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Lynx starters