Sat May 28, 2016 League 1 Ontario L1O--FC London vs North Mississauga Panthers (from League 1 Ontario website)

Clean Sheet And Three Goals Over North Miss Keeps FC London Joint-Top Of West
05/29/2016, 6:45pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

FC London continue to show why their grounds nicknamed "The Cove" at the 
German Canadian Club is developing a reputation as a fortress, dropping 
North Mississauga S.C. 3-0 to take home all three points.

The result solidifies the club's position as joint-leaders in the western 
division with Sigma FC.

North Mississauga were difficult opponents on the day, and both teams 
went into the half-time dressing rooms on equal footing with 
no goals scored. 

But both teams were forced to change their tactical gameplan, 
as North Miss suffered two injuries and FC London encountered 
a tactical puzzle they were not expecting.

"We expected North Miss to play in a 4-2-31 but instead they played 
a 4-4-2, and the players were not expecting this formation," said 
FC London head coach, Mario Despotovic.

"At the half-time I explained to them how to outplay the 4-4-2 and 
that's why we had such a strong second half."

"Yeah for us we got two very early injuries and so our gameplan had 
to change," said North Miss head coach, Rick Titus.

"I wanted to have the fresh legs in the second half, about 
ten-fifteen in, and it didn't happen because we just didn't have 
any numbers on the bench. It was a tired team." 

Shortly after the restart, London demonstrated that they'd found 
the key to unlock the visitors, with three goals in rapid 
succession from Gigolaj (47'), Amaya (52') and Ribero (68'). 

With only one sub left on the bench for North Miss, the result 
was confirmed with some neat possessive play from FC London. 
London's goalkeeper Sokalaski added another clean sheet to his 
resume, and FC London completed five games unbeaten 
in the league.

"Anytime you go away somewhere, you need to be a bit more 
vigilant defensively," said Titus. "We did that for the 
first half, which is good because for our first four or five 
games we gave up really early goals. Hopefully we've beaten 
that habit now I think, so it's a question of keeping guys 
healthy and going into the second half with more than 
one guy on the bench."

North Miss will hope to get back in the saddle quickly 
as they face North Toronto Nitros on May 31 (8 p.m.) 
at Hershey Centre 2, Mississauga in the L1 Cup. The next 
league match for the Panthers is also at home 
at Hershey Centre 2, Mississauga on June 4 (8 p.m.) 
versus Sanjaxx Lions. 

FC London are home at "The Cove" on June 3 (7:30 p.m.) 
against fellow southern Ontario representatives 
Windsor Stars.  

back to 2016 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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