August 14, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Match Recap: Masters FA Saints vs FC London (from League 1 Ontario)

Match Recap: Masters FA Saints 1 - 4 FC London
08/14/2017, 5:45pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

Jose De Sousa (15') got Masters out ahead early in their Matchweek 16 home fixture against FC London, 
but it was London's attacking talisman and League1 Ontario 2016 Golden Boot winner Elvir Gigolaj 
(28', 33', 42', 44') that would turn the tables on the match with four goals in 18 minutes to register 
a 4-1 final scoreline. 

"First half was how we imagined this game to play, even though we conceded once on the counter-attack," 
said FC London assistant coach, Eddie Schmidt. 

"We found our rhythm and we found the free players that we wanted to generate against them and the space 
in behind. When the boys had those solutions they could play freely." 

Masters did recover from their difficult start with a much brighter second half, finding gaps to launch 
attacking moves but unable to get the crucial final touches to register on the score-sheet.

"I think it was just finishing," said Masters head coach, Rick Titus. 

"We had two or three clear chances inside the six yard box, and just couldn't put the ball in the net. 
You can play as well as you want, but if you're not scoring and not preventing other teams from scoring 
four goals on you, you're going to have a problem. Second half we could have clawed back a little bit, 
but you have to finish."

The result marked Masters third defeat in a row, a difficult spell for a team that had undergone 
an obvious change in fortunes since the addition of coach Rick Titus to the technical staff. 

"Whenever you start to slip in the standings and lose one or two games in a row, it comes down 
to mentality a lot of times," explained Titus.

"Players being able to work through things mentally is a difficult process at the League1 level. 
We've lost some games that were pretty tight and the guys were pretty discouraged and we've been trying 
to work it out in training. We're going to try and get a run going for the next three or four games 
and make a good example of ourselves, but it has been difficult."

On the other hand, FC London hasn't lost a match since mid-May and with the win has a ten match 
consecutive unbeaten streak and on 28 points sits fourth in the west division - one point behind 
TFC III, and 11 points behind leaders Sigma FC and Oakville Blue Devils. 

"We had ten games without being beaten and this was quite a good thing because it showed the consistency 
with which we work," said Schmidt. 

"You've really seen the team developing in the past month and as well with the playing style. You saw 
that last week in tight situations and also this week in the second half when we didn't play our game 
like we had wanted to play, you still saw that the boys are close to each other and still play for 
each other. That's what we need, and that's why we win right now." 

Masters FA Saints will next play Woodbridge Strikers on August 20 at Vaughan Grove, Woodbridge.

FC London will next play Sanjaxx Lions on August 18 at German Canadian Club, London.

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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