Sun August 7, 2016 League 1 Ontario--North Toronto Nitros vs Durham United FA (from League 1 Ontario website)

Elkinson Strike Takes Nitros 1-0 Over Durham United FA
08/08/2016, 11:00am EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

Fifth place east division side North Toronto Nitros took on third place 
in the east, Durham United FA, on Sunday, winning 1-0 
at University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium. 

East division All-Star Killian Elkinson (59') got the lone goal for Nitros, 
while fellow All-Star Mark Rogal kept the clean sheet. Elkinson's industry 
and quality up top for North Toronto was instrumental in the team's 
match-winning performance.

"I'm not going to talk just about Killian's performance today, because 
he has been playing like that all season," said North Toronto Nitros 
head coach, Hermann Kingue. 

""He is one of our most important players. He has an important role 
up front because we need him to keep the ball up top, and also 
he is very good at combining. It's just good to have such a good player."

North Toronto appeared to start the sharper of the two teams, 
but Durham began to take back momentum mid-way through the match, 
before Nitros again found a late head of steam. 

"The first twenty-seven minutes we played very well, we pressured them, 
we won many balls, and we put in place our game-plan," commented Kingue. 

"But, as the game was going by, we encountered the heat factor 
and players began to tire physically, we dropped a bit, and that's 
when we allowed them to pressure us." 

"When we had the half-time break, we adjusted and asked them 
to alternate between high press and dropping deep, and we did 
that very well."

Durham struggled to find fluency with several key players away 
at trials or returned to school programs, with several new faces 
being integrated into the squad.

"It's hard when you take four regular starters out of the lineup, 
and the conditions were hot for both teams, but you know the effort 
was there," said Durham coach, Felix Direnzo. 

"We're always disappointed in a loss, whether at home or on the 
road, but the effort was there so we'll go back and we'll work 
a little harder on fixing a few things and get them ready for 
the next match." 

"We had a couple of young guys step into some key roles," 
he concluded. 

"They gained a little bit more experience under tough conditions."

"We played a good team here, well disciplined, physical, 
and very fit. We did do things wrong, we weren't perfect 
by any stretch, but we lost to a good team. We're going 
to go back again to these young guys and fix a few things, 
and get them ready." 

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