Fri June 3, 2016 League 1 Ontario--FC London vs Windsor Stars (from League 1 Ontario website)

FC London Shoot Out The Stars 3-1 At The Cove
06/04/2016, 6:15pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

The first of the Southwestern Ontario derbies went down 
at FC London's Cove Road grounds on Friday night as they hosted 
Windsor Stars. 

Windsor instantly put FC London under pressure, and stitched 
together some tidy attacking moves. 

"First half we started a bit tentative but as we went 
on I thought we had lots of half-chances, a few good chances, 
but it just seemed the ball was moving too fast for the feet 
in the box," said Windsor assistant coach, David Rembert.

"We had lots of chances to score, but I thought we played well, 
we really did. We tried something of a new formation today, 
and we'll need to finish our chances, but it was a good start. 
Overall they took advantage of their chances and we didn't." 

FC London had the best chance of the early going however, 
as Elvir Gigolaj beat the offside trap, walked in and beat 
the keeper in the thirteenth minute. Agonizingly, for the home 
support, his effort came back off the outside of the far post.

The game began to fall into a pattern of London possession 
and Windsor counters, and it would be Windsor to win this 
exercise in cat-and-mouse - forward Jumbo Iyowuna (25') 
latching a volley onto an early cross to put the visitors 
up 1-0. 

London didn't wait long to equalize, with Gigolaj (33') 
depositing a penalty after a high tackle just inside the box.

London's Amaya and Karan would finish out the half with 
a pair of one-on-one situations with the Windsor keeper, 
but couldn't keep their shots on target. Still, Windsor 
appeared to be on the front foot. 

"I think we moved the ball very well but after going 
down 1-0 the players started to find solutions on the 
pitch that we didn't agree upon," said London head coach, 
Mario Despotovic. 

"So when you get the ball in the half-space, which is the 
most important tactical area on the pitch, if you don't 
make the right choices in this area you are not helping 
the team," he added.

"It is in this area where you have to know how to outplay 
the last third and some of the players did not 
do it very well. But, in the second half they did it, 
and it was good. I was loud in the dressing room 
at halftime and after again it was really good. 
That's why I think they won in the end." 

The second half featured an increase in tempo from both 
sides, and a redirected cross from Windsor almost punished 
London before a defender managed a last-ditch clearance. 

London's Karan (76') would finally give the hosts a little 
light on the scoreboard, taking down a ball with tight 
pressure, spinning his defender, and slotting a grasscutter 
under the Windsor net-minder.

The cherry on the cake arrived in extra time when Windsor 
were pushing the entire team up the pitch, 
Randy Ribeiro (90') sending a phenomenal 70-yard shot 
over the advancing GK and closing the contest at 3-1 
to London.

back to 2016 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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