SC Toronto continued its relentless pursuit of the First Division title with a 2-0 victory over Mississauga Eagles FC and Toronto Croatia held its position with a 5-1 defeat of North York Astros. In two other games in the CSL Sunday, Brampton dropped London City 5-2 and it was a scoreless tie in a game cut short between St. Catharines and Capital City FC.
Following a scoreless first half at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga during which the home side had a decided advantage in the play, it was visiting SC Toronto that opened the scoring at 58 minutes following a defensive miscue when a pass back involving goalkeeper Melford James Jr. went wrong.
The pass was intercepted and this allowed Toronto forward Andrea Lombardo to intercept and he quickly put the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Toronto SC increased their lead at 82 minutes when Jarek Whiteman struck from just outside the box, a 2-0 lead that held to the final whistle.
The league-leading SC Toronto has 53 points from 21 games.
Toronto Croatia kept pace at Esther Shiner Stadium with a 5-1 victory over the winless Astros and it was Tihomir Maletic who opened the scoring with a penalty kick goal at 26 minutes and this was followed by a tying goal just two minutes later by North York Astros`defender Diego Benzi.
Astros`goalkeeper Enea Perego was shown the red card by referee Richard Oliveira at 35 minutes for foul on a Croatia forward and he was replaced by substitute goalkeeper Damon Naghavi. It was 1-1 at half-time.
Croatia went ahead 2-1 on a goal by Milan Grgic who found the net past Naghavi at 54 minutes and Maletic scored a second goal, also on a penalty kick at 77 minutes, for a 3-1 lead. It was Maletic`s sixth goal of the weekend following his four goals on Friday night in a 5-2 defeat of Montreal Impact Academy and his 16th of the season.
Toronto Croatia continued to attack the 10-men Astros and went further ahead with a goal at 85 minutes by Hugo Herrera and it was Herrera who completed the scoring in added time for a 5-1 final score.
Brampton opened the scoring in the third minute at Victoria Park in Brampton when midfielder Andy Garcia put the ball though to Judah Hernandez to tap in past London goalkeeper Fabian Knezevic.
London tied the game 1-1 at 27 minutes when Eris Tafaj struck a drive into the top left corner out of reach on Brampton ‘keeper Roy Blanche game remained tied to the half-time whistle.
Hernandez scored his second goal at the 61st minute mark for a 2-1 Brampton lead, but 10 minutes later London’s Omar Brani equalized at 2-2.
The home side went ahead 3-2 at 76 minutes on a goal by Jeremy Shepherd, and Richard West increased the lead to 4-2 two minutes later – it was West’s 17th goal of the campaign and he continues to lead the CSL scoring race.
Denny Velastagui rounded the scoring for Brampton from the penalty spot after Richard West was brought down by Knezevic in the box, a 5-2 final.
The three points gives Brampton City Utd a fighting chance for a playoff spot, they have 33 points from 20 games, while London City will not make the top eight in the CSL First Division this season.
While the first half between St. Catharines Wolves and Capital City FC was played in the best of conditions, that all changed quickly as the teams left the field for the dressing rooms at Club Roma in St. Catharines. A sudden, severe thunderstorm accompanied by lightning caused flooding on the playing surface such that referee Jeff Fearnall had little alternative but to suspend the game, which he later abandoned with the score tied 0-0.
CSL rules consider a first half completed as a game completed if abandoned, so the score goes into the record books as a scoreless tie.
In the CSL Second Division Sunday:
St. Catharines Wolves B 2, KW United FC 2
There is one game in the CSL this weekend remaining:
Sun, Sep 11 Hershey Centre 9:00 PM Mississauga Eagles FC B vs Niagara United
