Mon August 1, 2016 League 1 Ontario--Toronto Skillz FC vs Kingston Clippers (from League 1 Ontario website)

Skillz And Clippers Share Points In Front Of Packed House At Birchmount
08/05/2016, 9:15am EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

Home side Toronto Skillz drew Kingston Clippers 1-1 in front of a packed 
house at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough on Monday. 

"We have a really great organization off the field in terms of how 
we run things and when we get the kind of support in the stands that 
we had today to rally the boys on I think we have the platform for 
something really special moving forward," said Toronto Skillz 
head coach Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick.   

Both teams had a tough start, with the Kingston team arriving late 
to the venue and then Toronto Skillz taking an early dismissal 
to Ryan Reid (31') to go down to ten men. 

Still, Skillz rallied quickly and Sameer Fathazada (48') put the 
Scarborough based academy up by one just after the half-time interval.

"The game itself was a good game but then the red card decision 
changed the whole dynamic of the game," said Fitzpatrick. "To be fair 
to them as a team coming off the bus late, they came with a lot 
of energy in the first half."

"They actually had great spells in the first half where they put 
us under some pressure, but we knew if we could ride the tide 
and get to the half we could make some adjustments," he added. 

"Tactically we were being outnumbered in the midfield so we had 
to make a change to address it and once we did we started 
to take a hold of the game and we were rewarded with a goal."

Kingston captain Eric Koskins (74') made sure the away side 
wouldn't leave without points though, coming through with only 
fifteen minutes left in the match. 

"Obviously arriving late doesn't help," said Kingston 
technical director, Chris Eveleigh. "But today, as proud 
as I've been all season of this group of lads, is not a proud 
moment in the way we conducted ourselves in many ways. 
In terms of fighting spirit to get back in the game on the 
field, it was good." 

"The first twenty minutes, I thought we controlled the game. 
If we scored in the first fifteen or twenty, I think we put 
them on the back foot and go on to score two, three, four."

On a hot and humid evening, the Clippers knew they were 
up against it when Toronto Skillz supporters numbered in the 
hundreds began putting the pressure on. 

"What they have here is people that care, and I can see that, 
not just on the field but off the field," said Eveleigh. 
"They have a twelfth man in this stadium, so they literally 
have fans that are screaming at everything and it's 
a difficult place to come."

Skillz coach Fitzpatrick felt his team showed great passion 
and hunger for the result, giving a sense of the progress 
the team had made since the beginning of the season. 

"More than anything else I was really happy with the way 
that we battled," he said. "Even though we gave up the 
one goal and a couple other chances while playing with 
ten men, we played with the heart and mettle."

"If this game were closer to the start of the season, 
we probably would have lost this game. It's a testament 
to the maturity of the group, and the work ethic of the group, 
and the belief within the group that they can get the result." 

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