It was a well-played attractive encounter that could have gone either way at Esther Shiner Stadium despite a 3-1 Kingston FC lead over the Astros in the second half.
Kingston striker Guillaume Surot opened the scoring at the 20th minute mark from a penalty awarded by referee Jorge Alfredo Oyague and midfielder Paul Willis made it 2-0 for the visitors 9 minutes later.
North York midfielder Jose Melo cut the lead to 2-1 at 38 minutes, the score at the break.
Kingston’s Calalin Lichioiu made it 3-1 at 49 minutes, to be followed by the first of two goals by the home side’s Jose Goncalves De Sousa. He struck at 52 minutes and following a number of attempts by North York to get on even terms, the North York midfielder scored his second at 72 minutes to tie the game 3-3. It was a picture goal which started on the right wing for a hard cross which De Sousa drove into the net from close range out of reach of Kingston goalkeeper Jaroslav Tesar.
Kingston came close to winning the game in the late stages when Mademba Ba, who came into the game as a substitute midway through the second half, hit the crossbar at 86 minutes after taking a pass from Surot in a breakaway, and Ba then hit the post with a header two minutes later.
I was a close game at the St. Joan of Arc ground in Maple for the second win in as many games for York Region Shooters.
Following a scoreless first half, York Region forward Nathan Smith broke the deadlock with a goal at 81 minutes, beating Burlington goalkeeper Vladimir Vujasinovic from 6 yards for a 1-0 score that held to the final whistle.
