July 2, 2019 League 1 Ontario--summary of Saturday games (from League 1 Ontario website)
Alliance, Unionville Find Matchweek 9 Wins With Deadlock The Final Result Elsewhere 07/02/2019, 3:15pm EDT By League1 Ontario staff The final day of Matchweek 9 in the men's division featured hard fought draws between Oakville and Masters, Windsor and Darby, while Alliance and Unionville eventually found a way past determined opponents in FC London and OSU Force. ............................................................................................... Alliance United came away victorious once again in Matchweek 9, this timing beating FC London 1-0 thanks to a penalty converted by their captain, Stakic (16' pk), early in the match. The match started with a high tempo despite the afternoon heat. Alliance came out in a 4-4-1-1 formation and London started with a 4-2-3-1. The first real chance of the game fell to the feet of London top scorer Connor Wilson, who attempted a finish from outside of the box, but Alliance's Ahilan was up to the test. Alliance's Nikola Stakic had his first sniff at goal in the tenth minute with a tame header that went off target. Shortly after, Stakic would have the chance to put his side ahead from the spot, after a London player handled the ball in the area. Just as he did in the previous matchweek, Stakic made no mistake from 12 yards. The match would continue to progress at a high tempo with both teams playing with good energy in the first half, making a point of winning every challenge, second ball and aerial duel. The match would go into halftime with Alliance the slightly more dangerous side as far as statistics, registering two shots on target and four shots off target, compared to a single shot on target for London. The second half picked up exactly where it left off and it didn't take long for Alliance to create their first dangerous opportunity with A. Sivananthan registering a shot that flew just over the bar in the 49th minute. Despite displaying high energy, London failed to create concrete chances for themselves and they felt this pressure as they went into the latter stages of the match, when both teams began to show clear signs of fatigue in the hot afternoon sun. London’s best chance of the half came practically at the last second, when a ball was whipped in from a free kick out wide and the subsequent header smacked right off the crossbar, sending the visitors' bench into a state of disbelief. Alliance will next play Unionville Milliken SC on July 6 (5 p.m.) at Mount Joy Turf, Markham. FC London will next play Toronto Skillz on July 6 (7 p.m.) at German Canadian FC Stadium Field, London. (Alex Bizzarri) ..................................................................................... Unionville Milliken S.C. men scored one goal in each half and kept a clean sheet to ensure their second win of the season - and extend OSU Force's run of defeats to nine games and goal drought to 805 minutes. OSU Force caused the first scare after just five minutes as a shot from an unmarked Eric Watson from inside the box was straight at the keeper. Minutes later, the opponent would make the visitors pay for their missed effort. Unionville's Hayden Clarke (9') strike from outside the box nestled in the left bottom corner to give them the lead. The visitors dominated possession throughout the rest of the first half but failed to create any real chance. On the other hand, Unionville could have doubled their lead on 41 minutes but Kaleb Powell was denied by Horace Patient Sobze Zemo's great save in a one-on-one situation. OSU Force came out fighting after the restart. On 51 minutes, Watson connected with Ryan Massoud's low pass from the left to hit the bar. Ten minutes later OSU again rattled the frame of the goal as Nevello Yoseke's shot from inside the box was deflected to clip the bar and then bounce out. OSU were pushing forward to try and find a goal, leaving spaces in their backline, and Unionville quickly took advantage of that situation with their substitutions. Against the run of play, substitute Wesley Cain's shot was parried by the OSU keeper, Zemo, but another substitute, Tim Flynn (80'), scored with the follow-up. Flynn could have scored another goal at the final whistle but his finish from point-blank range was parried out for a corner by Zemo. Unionville Milliken S.C. will next play Alliance United FC on July 6 (5 p.m) at Mount Joy Turf, Markham. OSU Force will next play Vaughan Azzurri on July 6 (5 p.m) at Quinn's Point, Ottawa. (Mahdi Ghaffaribarzi) ............................................................................................ Windsor TFC and Darby FC tied 1-1 in an aggressive, well-fought match in Windsor on Matchweek Nine. The goal from Darby came from Collin Reilly (4') while the goalscorer for Windsor TFC was Juan Jaramillo (77'). Darby FC started off strong in the first half, getting a corner early in the game. Collin Reilly (4') was the one who took the corner kick, incredibly sending it directly into the back of the net, and Darby FC had what would prove to be their only goal of the game. This goal gave Windsor TFC an early hole to dig out of. Soon after the goal against, the home side began absolutely pelting shots towards the Darby FC net. However, due the strong will and intelligent positioning of the Darby defenders, none of the shots from Windsor TFC even made it to the goal as virtually every shot destined for the target was blocked. Windsor TFC gave a strong effort, but they couldn’t tie up the game before the half was over. Darby FC came out strong again at the beginning of the second half but this time Windsor TFC was able to shut them down. At the 66th minute, Darby FC was forced to play a man short after Alfred Hess was dismissed from the playing field. Windsor TFC quickly took advantage of having an extra player on the pitch. Windsor TFC's Jaramillo (77') blasted a rocket of a shot past the Darby FC keeper and into the top corner of the net. Both teams fought hard and aggressively to try to gain an upper hand on their opponent in the remaining quarter hour, but the game ultimately ended in a 1-1 tie. One of the outstanding players for Darby FC in this match was Nicholas Spittle who, although not making the score-sheet, made some very dangerous runs and gave Windsor TFC's defence a hard time. The outstanding player for Windsor TFC was Christian Mayorga, who kept a level head in the central midfield and was a leader on the pitch, distributing the ball well. Windsor TFC will next play Aurora FC at Stewart Burnett Park, Aurora on July 6 (4 p.m.). Darby FC will next play Woodbridge Strikers at Vaughan Grove, Woodbridge on July 7 (5 p.m.). (Mahdi Ghaffaribarzi) ........................................................................................... Oakville Blue Devils and Masters FA Saints battled to a 1-1 draw in Matchweek 9, significantly tightening up the race for playoff spots. The dropped points from both top eight sides - Oakville currently in third, Masters in sixth - offered significant opportunity to teams above and below in the standings to either close ground or increase the points gap. Masters' Akeem Priestly (45' pk) was the first to strike in the match, finishing convincingly from the spot to put the hosts under pressure going into the break at Sheridan College, Oakville. Oakville pushed forward in waves for the equalizer in front of their home crowd in the second half, with fullbacks Carl DiFeo and Zak Drake taking high positions and raiding forward from the back to support the attack. These attacking waves left defensive holes, however, and Masters quickly pushed back on counter-attacks, isolating Oakville defenders and creating great chances to score. Between the 60th and 70th minute, Masters had three golden opportunities to put the match out of sight. Diving interventions from Blue Devil defenders, in particular Cory Vickers, literally cleared sure goals off the goal-line. Oakville's attacking strategy did pay off moments later, with Evan James (73') neatly sliding the ball inside the back post from six yards after excellent right flank play from Di Feo and Khody Ellis. The match ended with fifteen minutes of extremely tense cut-and-thrust football. Masters' Walkes created havoc around the Oakville goal mouth and was unlucky not to put his team ahead again, before Oakville's Ellis created two openings that Masters' GK Gosciniak had to be on top form to keep out. Oakville Blue Devils will next play Sigma FC on July 7 (4 p.m.) at Sheridan College, Oakville. Masters FA will next play North Mississauga SC on July 6 (8 p.m.) at L'Amoreaux Sports Centre, Toronto (Cormac Rea)
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