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Oakville Snaps Vaughan's Unbeaten Streak, Jumps To Third In East

By League1 Ontario staff, 07/11/16, 3:30PM EDT

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Filipe Vilela (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Oakville Blue Devils offered a rare glimpse on Sunday of the form that brought them the 2015 League1 Ontario title, defeating the previously unbeaten Vaughan Azzurri 3-0 at Sheridan College, Oakville.

Khody Ellis (18') and Taylor McNamara (25') finishes gave the home side a great start to the match, while 2015 Golden Boot winner Filipe Vilela (86') added his ninth of the season just shy of full-time.

Oakville keeper Karman Singh Saini claimed the clean sheet - his second of the season.

"We worked all week on a certain gameplan, based on some restrictions as we have some players injured and suspended, and the boys really brought the gameplan to life," said Oakville head coach, Duncan Wilde. 

Oakville had a tough start to their title defense, winning only one of their first six matches. However, the Blue Devils have rebounded well in their last five outings, winning four.  

"[This win] gives us a great indication of how we are improving because we've had a pretty slow start to the season, but that is by far the best performance we have put down," said Wilde.

"I thought we worked incredibly hard against a good team. Usually when we play Vaughan it is a one goal game, and that is the first time we've beaten them in League1 so we are pleased with that."

Vaughan struggled to find a spark, and could not get anything on the scoreboard to mount a comeback and preserve their ten consecutive match unbeaten run of results. 

"We didn't defend properly, we weren't organized coming out of our own third," said assistant coach, Wayne Mills. "A lot of unforced errors, just not a good showing for a team of our calibre."

"Now we have to reorganize ourselves, and get ready to play the next game. We need to sort things out with our defending, and what we do when going forward with the ball, but credit to Oakville - they got three goals and held down the lead well."

Now in third position in the west division, Oakville trails FC London in second by eight points, and Sigma FC in first by fourteen points. Hopeful of building off a positive result, Wilde was also aware there was little room left for any missteps if the Devils hoped to again find championship form. 

"It'd be great if we could play like that every week, but realistically we know we must work hard to be consistent and there is still a long way to go this season," he said. 

"Teams in our division have started to spill a few points, so it's up to us to keep the pressure on and hopefully we can get back in this thing."

Oakville plays next on July 17 (5 p.m.) at Queen's University, Tindall Field against Kingston Clippers. 

Vaughan will play an L1 Cup semi-final against Masters FA Saints on Wednesday July 13 (8 p.m.) at the Ontario Soccer Centre. Vaughan's next league match is July 17 (2 p.m.) against Sanjaxx Lions at McNaughton Turf, Vaughan.