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Moncrieffe Penalty Edges Durham Over Sanjaxx 1-0

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/26/16, 1:45PM EDT

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Christian Moncrieffe (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Ben Cowman (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Christian Moncrieffe (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Ben Cowman (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Christian Moncrieffe scored a penalty to give Durham a 1-0 win over Sanjaxx Lions and propel his team to the top of the east division standings after a hard-fought, physical game.

"This is the second type of game this year that was a bit more physical, and the boys seem to struggle a bit when it's a bit physical because they like to play," said Durham head coach, Sanford Carabin. 

"When the calls don't go your way in that environment, players naturally start to get frustrated. They key is to try and keep your composure through the game and I thought our guys did a good job." 

Ben Cowman got the clean sheet, dealing with Sanjaxx chances that were mainly confined to the first half. 

Sanjaxx's James Taylor was dismissed mid-way through the second half, and Moncrieffe (73') kept his head well to bury the ensuing penalty.

"There was a lot of fouling, especially at the start of the second half," said Carabin. "It looked like they wanted to close spaces quickly, and deny us time on the ball. The key is composure, and we told them to keep the emotions in check."

"Credit to them as well, they played hard but didn't react either. It was a good old fashioned physical game, and not a lot of chances. We made it difficult on ourselves not putting any away in the first half." 

Sanjaxx dealt with the man down situation well, and head coach Peter Mellon found plenty of positives in his team's performance. 

"I think they implemented the game plan we had from the start," he said. "I think the work and the effort for the ninety minutes with ten minutes was commendable from the lads. Durham is a good team, you can't take anything away from them."

"This was a big inspirational moment for us going forward. Had we taken our chances early, it would have been a different game, but even with a man down the players battled right to the end and I'm proud of them. It's always about the team effort, and tonight was that, doing their jobs and doing them properly."

Durham United FA plays next in the L1 Cup against North Toronto Nitros on June 30 (9 p.m.) at Downsview. DUFA is currently top of the east division on 22 points, ahead of Woodbridge Strikers by head-to-head tiebreaker. 

"We'll prepare for our next game, a Cup game," said Carabin. "It's a big game for us, our goal at the start of the season was to get to a Cup final. We'll prepare for that now, and hope to have a fit and healthy squad ready to go."

Sanjaxx is in eighth position in the west division and will next play Toronto Skillz on July 4 (8 p.m.) at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough.