Fri June 24, 2016 League 1 Ontario--FC London vs Masters Futbol (from League 1 Ontario website)

Gigolaj Hat-Trick Leads FC London To 7-0 Rout Of Masters 
06/25/2016, 10:45pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

FC London rebounded from a recent dip in form to smash visitors 
Masters FA Saints 7-0 on Friday night. 

"We're feeling excellent," said FC London assistant coach, 
Phillip Millar. "We worked all week on a certain game-plan 
and the boys executed it perfectly."

"It's what makes soccer amazing. If you watch that game 
on a video, you will see we did something specific and all 
the guys executed. It was beautiful. I don't think the age 
of the opponent was really a factor in this performance, 
I think it was down to the game-plan that the head coach 
brought to the table." 

Elvir Gigolaj (49', 62', 85') led the way for the home 
side with a tidy hat-trick, putting him on eight for 
the season - one behind Sigma's Leaford Allen at the top 
of the goalscoring charts. London keeper Anthony Sokalaski 
registered his fifth clean sheet of the season. 

"It feels good to bounce back after the two losses and 
I'm sure the changing room is buzzing right now," 
said Gigolaj.  

"I haven't really been on point with finishing in the 
last few games, but you just have to keep your head 
up and keep going and it will come. You need to keep 
doing what the coach asks of you and keep it cool, 
and that's what I did tonight and it fell for me."

First Randy Ribeiro (23') and then Ryan Pereira (24') 
got the home side off to a dream start, while 
Daniel Amaya (57') and Mohammed Reza Nafar (73') 
added two more in the second half. With Gigolaj's 
hat-trick, London filled the Masters net with seven 
on the night, and it could have been more - two goals 
were called back for offside decisions, and London 
were dominant in play. 

Masters technical director Junior Groves had a unique 
take on the result, taking a sage long view on the 
potential benefits of his side's performance.

"It's a lesson I think for my younger players," 
said Groves. "I brought my youth today and I just 
wanted to teach them a lesson. Now that they are 
up against senior football, they need to get senior 
on the training ground. They have to stop deflecting."

"It's very important for the youth in our culture 
and in football to respect the senior players. 
Today they have learned what it is like, and for 
me it is more important to teach them how to change 
then to look at the score. Today they learned that 
lesson, and thank-you to FC London for teaching 
them a lesson."

"This is beautiful today," he added. "I will show 
up at the training ground on Monday and they will 
be ready to move forward. I needed this message 
to be sent, and now it has."

FC London is currently second place in the west 
division and will host east division fourth place 
side Kingston Clippers on July 2 (7:30 p.m.) 
at German Canadian FC Stadium "The Cove."

Masters is currently seventh in the east division 
and will play Pro Stars on July 2 (9 p.m.) 
at L'Amoreaux, Scarborough. Masters also has 
an upcoming L1 Cup semi-final against 
Vaughan Azzurri on a date TBD. 

"We rested our senior players, and now we have 
our youth ready to work," concluded Groves. 
"We are moving forward to the semi-finals 
of the L1 Cup, I have a squad that is rested 
and ready to work - I'm good, I'm happy. 
This is a beautiful night!"

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