Scarborough increased its lead at the top of the standings with a 3-2 defeat of Serbian White Eagles in a well-played encounter in doubt up to the final whistle, the opener of three games at the Paramount ground Saturday. In the second match, Toronto Falcons struck three in the second half to take control with a 3-1 victory over Hamilton City, and in the late game Ooty Black Pearl rallied to score twice and recover from a 3-1 deficit to tie Dynamo Toronto 3-3.
Marko Stajic opened the scoring for Serbian White Eagles at the 15th minute mark and Petar Dordevic tied the game for Scarborough at 25 minutes. A penalty, Stajic’s second goal at 44 minutes, gave Serbian Eagles a 2-1 lead at the break. Two second half goals from the penalty spot, the first by Scarborough midfielder Jordan Webb which tied the game 2-2 and the second by Scarborough’s Jaimie Grandona which gave the Toronto east side team a 3-2 victory after a close call when Serbian White Eagles defender Petar Planic struck the Scarborough crossbar with a header three minutes from the end. It was an attractive encounter, a sizzler through to the final whistle.
The win gives Scarborough a 4-point lead at the top of the standings with a 5-0-1 WLT record, with Serbian White Eagles in second position and a 4-1-0 record for 12 points. Scarborough has conceded just two goals from the six games played.
Toronto Falcons came close to scoring several times in the early stages of the match with Hamilton City, with Sviatoslav Dziadykevych most prominent up front. A goal by defender Adam Fiks gave Falcons the lead at 59 minutes, beating Hamilton goalkeeper Aleksandar Nikolic with a ground drive at 46th minute mark. Nazar Slobodian made it 2-0 at 59 minutes and Dziadykevych increased the lead to 3-0 at 74 minutes. Hamilton midfielder Vukasin Kovacevic reduced the lead to 3-1 at the 85th minute mark and the score held to the final whistle. Toronto Falcons are in fourth position in the standings with a 3-2-1 record for 10 points, while Hamilton City is in fifth position with a 2-3-1 record for 7 points.
Forward Jean Mark Kamdem opened the scoring for Ooty Black Pearl in the third match of the day, and Dynamo Toronto forward Ivliev Sergii scored the first of two goals at 42 minutes for a 1-1 tie at the interval. Serhii Ursulenko made it 2-1 for Dynamo at 77minutes and Sergii scored his second for a 3-1 lead one minute later. Ooty Black Pearl rallied deep in the second half to score two goals, the first by Oyedele Luqman at 80 minutes and Abukar Hassan three minutes later for a 3-3 draw at the final whistle. Luqman was shown a red card at the end of the game for a second dissent misconduct.
Dynamo Toronto retain its third position in the standings with a 3-2-1 record for 10 points in the table, while Ooty Black Pearl is in sixth position with a 0-4-2 record.
Games return to the Mattamy ground on Saturday, July 22 with the following schedule:
2PM Scarborough vs Hamilton City 1
4PM OOTY Black Pearl vs Serbian White Eagles
6PM Weston United FC vs FC Dynamo Toronto