June 5, 2017 League 1 Ontario Match Recap: Masters FA Saints vs Toronto Skillz (from League 1 Ontario website)

Match Recap: Masters FA Saints 2 - 1 Toronto Skillz
06/05/2017, 9:00am EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

A run of heartbreak continues for Toronto Skillz as they dropped a 2-1 away result 
to Masters FA Saints on Matchweek Six. 

The contest was evenly balanced until late in the match, with Masters Maleik De Freitas (66') 
and Jose De Sousa (82') finally dispatching the goals that would win the day, 
but Toronto Skillz' Anhr El Eidani (88') made it interesting in the final stages 
by cutting the lead in half.  

Toronto Skillz were forced to play a man down for the final quarter hour after 
Paulo Henrique Olivia Da Silva was handed his walking papers following two cautions. 
The dismissal also resulted in a penalty for Masters, which Skillz keeper 
Spiro Koskinas did well to repel. 

"Sometimes when a team goes down a man you will find they can be more dangerous, because 
what happens is players start to pick up their game and they pick up the slack of the 
player that left," said Masters head coach, Rick Titus. 

"You never know, the calls are impossible to predict and the team can get a bit fiery, 
which can work for them or against them. It was working for them tonight and near 
the end of the game we had to be patient, kill some time with the ball and just keep it. 
It was emotional at the end there, and you need to be careful with those kinds of games."

Skillz head coach Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick was disappointed in the result, 
but recognized how precariously balanced the outcome was between two sides that have 
struggled to find form.

"Today was a better performance, but good or bad performance we are just struggling 
to get the result," he said.  

"The unfortunate thing is we made two mistakes and were punished, and we were not 
punishing them for their mistakes. It's like a broken record the way we keep saying 
it, but when teams do make mistakes we need to punish them." 

"At 0-0 we had two gilt-edged chances to put the game away and then they came back," 
he described. 

"As much as players maybe want to blame officials on occasion, players can decide 
games themselves and so officials cannot be blamed. We had good performances 
by individuals and then a couple mistakes by those same individuals and it cost 
us tonight." 

On the subject of the team's increased potency despite going a man down, Fitzpatrick 
explained an upside that his team has maintained despite the run without 
positive results. 

"That is one of the positives to take from it, and that has always been 
the mark of the team - we don't really let our heads go down and give up," he said. 

"We tried to adjust a little bit tactically to give ourselves that chance 
to come back and I think the second goal took the wind out of our sails because 
we were in the midst of making the tactical adjustments when we gave up the second goal."

"At 1-0 you are well in it, even with a man down, but then at 2-0 you are going 
to struggle to get those two goals with the clock against you. I still think 
if we had more time we would have generated enough offence to give ourselves 
a chance or two to tie it up."

Masters FA Saints will next play Durham United FA on Friday June 9 
at Kinsmen Park, Pickering.

Toronto Skillz will next play Aurora FC on Sunday June 11 
at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough.

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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