July 22, 2015 League 1 Ontario Cup--Pro Stars FC vs Durham United FC (from League 1 Ontario press release)

  
Pro Stars FC 1 - Durham 2
. Fri Jul 24 
Written By: Staff, League1  

Pro Stars Leaford Allen (34') and Durham's Joe Zupo (8') registered goals to keep Pro Stars and Durham United 
level after regular time in this exciting L1 Cup quarter final, but it was heartbreak for the Stars as Durham 
edged their hosts 5-4 in penalties. 

"Leaford Allen had the best performance on our team, was a constant danger to the opposition team, scored the 
equalizer and displayed a solid performance," said Pro Stars head coach, Josef Komlodi. "When we scored the 
goal to equalize the players developed a much stronger mental attitude."

"The key moment was certainly when they tied the game," said Durham head coach, Sanford Carabin. "I thought 
they started to play with more belief and urgency and we became very complacent. This carried over for the 
rest of the game despite a few, brief moments where we were able to break them down with some direct play."

"I thought their #10, Leaford Allen, was very effective for them," he added. "He led their line up front and 
caused our back line trouble all night. I believe he scored their goal and created a handful of scoring 
chances. He was very tough to control when he got in one v one situations."

"We did not have a standout performer tonight. However we did have enough steady performances to keep 
us in the match. Joe Zupo, Bruce Cullen, Kashiff De Jonge and Matt Stowell were our top two-way 
players tonight."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, for a match decided in the nervy climate of penalty shots, both coaches identifed 
their squads primary challenge as mental focus.

"Our challenge was mental tonight," said Carabin. "Having come off a large win against the same team only 
five days ago, our players struggled to adjust. We used four new players in the stating lineup and we had 
difficulty matching the energy from our last game against them."

"We restructured our team management and the player squad with a view towards coming back to play the 
same team that beat us on Friday with a huge goal difference," said Komlodi. "[That result] made our job 
more difficult to help the players believe that they can do it, but the new technical coaching group can 
install a new level of confidence in the team."

Durham will now move on to play Woodbridge in an L1 Cup semi-final scheduled for Aug 4 at Vaughan Grove, 
Woodbridge, 9 p.m. kickoff.  

back to 2015 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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