September 10, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Match Recap: OSU Force vs Masters FA Saints (from League 1 Ontario)

Match Recap: OSU Force 2 - 3 Masters FA Saints 
09/10/2017, 10:30pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

An entertaining back-and-forth match between OSU Force and Masters FA Saints finally went the way 
of the visitors on Matchweek 20 as Masters' Maleik De Freitas (84') scored the winning goal 
to hand the Saints a 3-2 win. 

"It was a game that had to be won tactically," revealed Masters head coach, Rick Titus.

"We were tired and were up at four in the morning to come up here so the guys were visible tired 
in the first half and there was a little bit of anxiousness, aggressiveness and mis-timed tackles." 

Robert Murphy (42') opened the scoring for OSU with a thundering right-footed half-volley, 
but within minutes Dhalio Pozo (45') had equalized following some nice interplay among 
the Masters forwards.

Dakota Boal (68') gave OSU the lead once again with just twenty minutes left to play, 
but the Force couldn't hold on. 

"We definitely should have stayed a bit more compact on the defensive side of the game 
near the end, but we couldn't because most of these players haven't played together much 
yet," said OSU Force head coach, Traian Matheas. 

"It's a mix of different age-groups, calibre and so on, it's tough. There is no cohesiveness 
in the group, which was basically why we couldn't hold it."

"Attacking or defending, it is always about cohesiveness. You have to be able to play together 
and understand each other to keep the ball and capitalize." 

Masters made a tactical reshuffle and began to find their spaces on the counter late in the game, 
which paid dividends with a Marc Jankovic (78') equalizer and finally the winner from Maleik 
De Freitas (84'). 

"We just changed the tactics up a bit at the end," confirmed Titus.

"We moved to three at the back and moved our big centre-back into the midfield to clog 
it a little bit and it worked perfectly - we were winning a lot of balls in their attacking 
third. It was beautiful transition play, we had one, two, three passes and scored on the 
third goal. We had some very nice play, and I was very happy with the finish." 

OSU Force will next play Durham United FA on September 16 at Terry Fox South, Ottawa. 

Masters FA Saints will next play Aurora FC on September 16 at L'Amoreaux, Scarborough.

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

.

.