York Region
Shooters extended their winning streak to eight games, Toronto Croatia bounced
back with a victory over Burlington SC and Brampton City Utd fell to London
City, three games in the CSL Sunday.
It was
scoreless for most of the hard-fought contest at Victoria Park in Brampton with
the first goal coming at 78 minutes when London City midfielder Harris Faziagic
opened the scoring for the visitors, a well-taken goal while cutting in from
the right wing to drive the ball in off the post away from a beaten Camilo
Benzi in the Brampton goal.
Just six
minutes later, Benzi was shown the red card by referee David Di Pasquale who
ejected the Brampton goalkeeper for Violent Conduct.
Brampton
pressed to get on even terms in the latter stages, but London increased their
lead when Jefferson Omide Agaiha scored into an empty net at 99 minutes while
substitute Brampton goalkeeper Euloge Kodzo Awitor was caught out of position.
The defeat
is a set-back for the home side while bidding for the First Division title. The
GTA side are third in the standings with an 8-3-0 for 24 points, while London
City improve with a 5-5-3 record for 18 points.
It was a
chippy encounter at the St. Joan of Arc ground in Maple where the home side
York Region Shooters eked out a 1-0 victory over SC Waterloo to extend their
winning streak to eight games, but it was all in doubt until the final whistle.
The first
half was scoreless but not without incident with referee Ramee Arbaji extended
to keep the game under control. York Region
Shooters opened the scoring at 65 minutes, a goal by midfielder Ali Hamam, his
sixth of the season. Hamam drove the ball from 12 yards on to a Waterloo
defender and the ball deflected to enter the net to the right of goalkeeper
Imad Hakura.
It was a close
contest through the second half and
Waterloo had an opportunity to tie the game from the penalty spot when referee
Arbaji called a foul inside the box at the 94th minute mark, but
Drazen Vukovic hit the post with the Shooters goalkeeper Adrian Ibanez well
beaten.
The eight
game winning streak gives York Region a 9-2-1 record for 28 points, tied with
Kingston FC for the top position. SC Waterloo has a 5-3-3 record for 18 points
and still very much in contention.
It was a
ding-dong affair at Nelson Stadium in Burlington where the lead changed hands
starting with Burlington scoring a go-ahead goal against Toronto Croatia at the
sixth minute mark, a goal by midfielder Nicholas Lindsay.
Tihomir Maletic tied the game 1-1 for Toronto
Croatia at the 18th minute mark, the score at half-time, and the prolific striker again beat Burlington
goalkeeper Vladimir Vujasinovic at 55
minutes for a 2-1 Croatia lead. The goals were Maletic’s 5th and 6th
of the season.
Lindsay
struck again just three minutes later for the home side to level the score 2-2, his 7th goal of the campaign, but
Toronto Croatia forward Kresimir Prgomet
scored the winning goal at the 71st minute mark – a 3-2 lead that
held up to the final whistle.
Prgomet’s winning
goal was his 7th of the season and the victory lifted Toronto
Croatia to a 7-2-3 record for 24 points, tied for third place in the standings.
Burlington FC have a 4-7-0 record for 12 points.
There were
two games in the CSL Second Division Sunday, York Region Shooters B defeated SC
Waterloo B 3-1 and Brampton City Utd B downed London City B, 3-0.
