June 5, 2017 League 1 Ontario Match Recap: Sigma FA vs North Mississauga Panthers (from League 1 Ontario website)

Match Recap: Sigma FC 2 - 1 North Mississauga Panthers 
06/05/2017, 8:45am EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

The battle of Mississauga went the way of hosts' Sigma FC during Matchweek Six 
as Canadian internationals Giuliano Frano (58') and Jonathan Grant (90' + 1) notched 
one a piece to drop North Missisauga Panthers with a final scoreline of 2-1.

Jordan Prescod (63') scored for the Panthers to level the scoreline, but Sigma remained 
on the front foot and forced chances that eventually paid off in the form of a converted 
corner just seconds from the end of the match. 

"I thought we needed to be a little more urgent," said Sigma head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis. 

"What I told the guys to do in order to get away from their block and what they were 
trying to do was go a little more direct and try and get the balls behind them and 
start putting pressure on their defenders to turn."

"What you usually get from that is a corner, a throw, or a free-kick that will raise 
the mental pressure on the opponent and I think that is what we saw in the last 
ten minutes. I think we picked up three corners in that last period, four free kicks 
around the box, and various things. We ended up scoring off a corner kick in the 
ninety-third minute, which gave us the win."

North Miss appeared to be in defensive stance for much of the match, absorbing pressure 
and looking to use the potency of the Sigma attack against them. 

"With all due respect to Sigma, they are a very well organized, very well coached group, 
and so when I told my players to sit in when we tied the game in the second half 
my thinking was that Sigma wanted to win and they had the players to bring the game 
to us," he explained. 

"My strategy was to go right back into them as soon as we won the ball. Let's put them 
under pressure when they come at us with our offensive plays."

"Our strategy was to go after their strength as opposed to their weakness," he added. 

"If we could capitalize on their strength, then their weakness would just be a benefit 
of ours. That was the strategy, to go after their strength."

Sigma FC will next play FC London on Saturday June 10 at Hershey Centre, Mississauga.

North Mississauga Panthers will next play Sanjaxx Lions on Saturday June 10 
at Hershey Centre, Mississauga.

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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