June 8, 2024...League1 Ontario...North Toronto vs Blue Devils FC game report (by Rocket Robin)

.................................

Result and details of the Saturday June 8, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between North Toronto
and Blue Devils FC played at Downsview Park in North York at 7:30pm.

North Toronto (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers, green shoulders and sleeves)

..................................1 Kevon Grant
5 Matthew Chandler...2 Conrad Czarnecki...4 Brandon Barone...22 Akiem Villous
3 Sam Rankin...13 Tadija Vukas (cpt)...15 Jamie Benayon-Abraham... Matthew Perovic
.............7 Luca Di Marco...10 Fadi Salback

Subs:...12 Alex Lin (gk)...6 Luca Porfiris...9 Zakaria Abdi...11 Jaylen Drummond
...16 Liam Rowe...17 Andrew James...20 Filip Arbutina
team officials:...head coach Marko Milanovic...assistant coach Filip Prostran...team manager Daniela Barillari
...goalkeeper coach Anthony Greco...athletic trainer Cassandra Booton

Blue Devils FC (all navy uniforms, white numbers)

...........................1 Taylor Miskolczi
2 Matt Laic...23 Anthony Wright...4 Pat Perriel...24 Jaedyn Saunders
17 James Lima...8 Samer Hamade...11 Gianluca Spadafora...15 Marcus Riviere
.........10 Brandon Duarte...6 Adam Czerkawski

Subs:...26 Mike Markac (gk)...5 Ahmad Mansour...9 Matt McGrouther...12 Mohamed Al Shakman
...13 Jacob Ball...16 Kyse Majel...20 Daniel Prieto...22 Ethan Miskolczi...26 Lee Victor Massunda
team officials:...head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coach Billy Steele...team manager Kim Ashton
...goalkeeper coach Glenn McNamara...athletic trainer is someone from Kinetic Impressions

Game officials:...referee Armando Pereira...referee's assistants Najeeb Almasri and Arshia Aliakbari
...fourth official Nivan Raizada...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)...match commissioner ucas Costa

First Half:...game starts 7:30pm...North Toronto defends north end.
2 min...NT player's cornerkick from left has NT Chandler head ball downwards. NT Di Marco low 15 yard shot
from right has goalie stop on short post.
4 min...BD Duarte receives high centering cross and 25 yard shot up middle is over net.
6 min...BD Saunders run to pass on left end line and short pass back. BD Spadafora blasts 22 yard shot from left
well high and wide right.
9 min...BD Lima long throw-in from right has defender head away on near post at 8 yards.
11 min...NT Perovic chips pass forward from 30 yards. BD goalie out to catch bounce ahead of NT Di Marco at 15 yards.
13 min...NT goalie catches bouncer wide left of net after BD Wright heads down long forward punt at 10 yards on wide left.
14 min...BD Lima shoots low 25 yarder on far right through 6 yard box which goalie clears.
16 min...NT Chandler chips 55 yarder from right over players to goalie.
17 min...NT player ducks to head away low cross into box after throw-in from right.
20 min...BD Hamade blasts 28 yarder that deflects off defender and goalie stops wide left of net to prevent cornerkick.
21 min...NT Perovic 25 yarder from right is bouncer to goalie.
21 min...BD Wright heads ball back to goalie from 20 yards to prevent NT break-in.
24 min...NT Barone is injured at NT 45 yard line jumping for header and is awarded freekick.
26 min...BD Saunders cuts to midddle from left and low 25 yard shot is smothered by goalie.
27 min...BD Saunders on run has NT Di Marco make high poke giving up cornerkick.
28 min...BD Hamade high cornerkick from right. BD player leaps and heads from left across 6 yard box which is cleared.
A recross into box has defender give up another cornerkick on right.
28 min...BD Hamade cornerkick from right is cleared.
33 min...BD Sapdafora wins cornerkick on deflection of low cross off defender on left side of box.
33 min...BD Duarte cornerkick from left has BD Saunders pop header from 88 yards well high and wide right.
34 min...BD Lima dribbles on right and wins cornerkick on deflection.
34 min...BD Duarte and BD Saunders work out short cornerkick from right but low cross is cleared.
35 min...BD Riviere has 10 yard blasted shot blocked by defender.
38 min...NT YELLOW card...Villous earns it for tackle to prevent breakout at BD 45 yard line.
40 min...BD Riviere run to left end line anad crosses low and behind the net. BD Laic was injured earlier in the play
giving him the pass and needs trainer.
46 min...NT Perovic shoots wide left of goal from 18 yards from right.
47 min...NT Di Marco gets pass and wins cornerkick on deflection.
48 min...NT Perovic corxnerkick from right is headed away on near post.
48 min...half ends 8:18pm.

Halftime: A mini-nets game between a group of boys from a North Toronto youth team is held.

Second Half:...starts 8:32pm.
46 min...NT Benayon-Abraham pass to NT Di Marco but first touch is too far forward at 20 yards and goalie picks up at 15 yard line.
47 min...BD goalie charges forward to catch high cross from right into crowd of players.
49 min...BD sub...Ball replaces Wright.
50 min...NT Barone 35 yard chip from left is caught by goalie.
50 min...NT Benayon-Abraham cuts along 25 yard line from left but blasts shot high and wide right.
52 min...BD Duarte cornerkick from right is over leaping BD Lima at 12 yards on left.
55 min...NT YELLOW card...Vukas earns it for pushing BD Ball on breakout at BD 45 yard line.
56 min...BD goalie is out to 15 yards to beat NT Villous and catch high chip sent in from 40 yards on right.
57 min...BD Salback gets ball when defender slips and BD Duarte has another defender catch him at 10 yard so he rolls centering
pass just a step ahead of charging BD Ball and out left side of box.
62 min...BD Lima centering pass from right along 25 yard line has BD Ball have low 22 yard shot that's well wide left.
63 min...BD sub...Al Shakman replaces Spadafora.
65 min...BD Duarte is tapped back pass and low 30 yard shot is through crowd of players down middle wide left.
67 min...BD Laic high cross from near right sideline has BD Riviere pop up header at 12 yards on left and goalie catches
overhead on near post.
70 min...North Toronto Fadi Salback GOAL...NT Sam Rankin sends pass forward from 28 yards on right that finds
Salback who holds off shot until defender overruns him and shoots 10 yard roller from slight right past sliding goalie
Taylor Miskolczi into left side of net.
70 min...NT sub...Drummond replaces Benayon-Abraham.
72 min...Blue Devils Marcus Riviere GOAL...BD James Lima runs from own side of center down right and passes forward
to BD Jacob Ball who continues to almost the right end line and sends low centering pass between defender and goalie
Kevon Grant for charging Riviere to kick in 6 yarder up the middle into open net.
75 min...BD Al Shakman 30 yard freekick from right bounces through box and over end line.
76 min...NT Salback 20 yard freekick from right is high and wide left.
77 min...BD Al Shakman cornerkick from right ends with BD Duarte cross from left that has BD Czerkawski knocked over on header and injured and needs trainer.
79 min...BD Riviere chips cross from 20 yards on left through box.
81 min...NT Perovic 40 yard freekick from left has BD player head away on edge of box.
82 min...BD Al Shaakman 30 yard from far right has goalie punch over to left. BD Riviere shoots 15 yarder from left is well wide right.
83 min...BD sub...Majel replaces Riviere.
85 min...BD Czerkawski is injured early in play and needs trainer. BD Duarte is injured later on play when bumped at center line
by NT Salback.
88 min...BD sub...Mansour replaces Czerkawski who'd been injured and already left field.
...........NT sub...Abdi replaces Di Marco.
89 min...NT players cana't get away shot just inside box.
91 min...BD Ball sends centering pass over from right along 5 yard line. BD Al Shakman slides to pop up 3 yarder on post
that goalie who's also down catch on near post.
93 min...BD Hamade low blasts from 25 yards on left has goalie dive to left post to push wide.
94 min...BD YELLOW card...Duarte earns it for argueing call at center line.
............NT YELLOW card...Salback earns it for argueing call at center line.
95 min...NT Drummond 25 yard shot dribbles weakly to goalie.
95 min...game ends 9:22pm.

Final Score:.....North Toronto........1.......Blue Devils FC........1.........

Attendance was about 80 fans most of them who'd brought an umbrella for themselves or to share. The weather forecast had promised rain for tonight for a few days now. A light rain started just as the players warmed up and there were only a few five minutes breaks from it being continuous. A 5 v 5 mini game between North Toronto U-8s (?) was held at halftime. This field turf (looked brand new) held up well and there was less slipping and sliding by players then I've seen at other fields in similar weather conditions.

Both defences held up well limiting the number of shots to mostly those that were poor percentage from outside the box and often off target. Blue Devils almost won it in second half added time with Samar Hamade blasting a low shot from 25 yards between players up the middle that NT goalie Kevon Grant dove to the left post to push wide.

Referee Armando Pereira gave out four Yellow cards this game (three to North Toronto).

Rather unpopular in second half injury time he gave one to both NT goal scorer Fadi Salback and BD captain Brandon Duarte for arguing a call near the center line but he said it was for the persistence complaining throughout the game. Yes that was true! The other two to NT were for professional fouls for holding back BD players breaking out just before they crossed the center line.

One more benefit to the new L1 Canada app is I can see how many Yellow cards an individual player has the entire season. Last week Duarte received a Yellow card in the game I attended when Blue Devils were in the GTA to play Vaughan Azzurri (he also scored both their goals). So two weeks in a row, what should I think? Yeah that was for complaining about a non-call too (The reason for cards is not given but I saw it myself...by now the game footage is in their YouTube archives). Not so bad as tonight's card was only his third of the season.

Tonight's game and the other game that started 30 minutes before ours between strugglers ProStars FC hosting Sigma FC were the only games completed tonight with eight teams playing tomorrow.

The result improves North Toronto's record to 1 win, 3 ties, 3 losses for 6 points and that's a three tie for seventh place although Guelph is ranked higher because they've played one less game.

Blue Devils improve to 2 wins, 3 ties, 2 losses for 9 points and keeps them in sixth place. Burlington SC can look down at the rest with a 6-0-0 record—18 points already and they've haven't played their Week 7 game yet! 'More ties please' they must be thinking as their chasers are falling further behind in the new no-playoff format.

North Toronto head coach Marko Milanovic (walking across the picture)

My interview with North Toronto head coach Marko Milanovic (6 minutes, 44 seconds)
Your thoughts on tonight's game?
What do you think about there being no longer any playoffs this season?
How about the other extreme about there being relegation?
How happy are you that the league has brought back their League Cup and you're doing so well in it?
What are your chances of winning that?
Would you put your strategy into winning that if it meant sacrificing a middle-of-the-pack League game?
Do you still have a lot of players from TMU (university)?
Do you still coach there?
Will some players have to leave before the L1O season ends for school?

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
X @RocketRobin01

North Toronto starters