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Huge Durham Comeback Secures Late Win Over Toronto Skillz

By League1 Ontario staff, 08/22/16, 6:00PM EDT

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Photo: Martin Bazyl

Durham United FA and Toronto Skillz put on a show at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough on Sunday, in a back and forth nine-goal battle that saw the lead change three times and Durham emerge victors after a 6-3 result.

Kashiff De Jonge (2', 63') and Tristan Esprit (71', 76') landed braces, while Tim Flynn (90') and Shaq Agard (90' +1) added late singles to Durham's tally.  

Toronto Skillz' Mitchell Wong (36'), Wadohi Fadul (44') and Sameer Fathazada (45') had put the hosts up 3-1 by halftime but Durham is chasing the east division title and wouldn't be denied the points. 


Toronto Skillz (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Durham United FA (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

"First things first, our whole season has been based around hard work," said Durham head coach, Sanford Carabin. 

"We started in January and we told them that without hard work closing players down and getting the ball - we are going to struggle. Every game that we have struggled in, where we have gone down, it is easy, we can point to one thing - we've just taken our foot off the pedal. The midfielders stop pressing, the forwards stop dropping back and tracking, so all I did at halftime was remind them that you can't win in this league, regardless of who you are playing, without hard work."

And work the Durham players did, scoring five goals in a second half display that overwhelmed a young Toronto Skillz side that thought they had done enough to secure the result. 

"I think it was just a wake-up call because sometimes when you get a goal in the first minute, everyone gets complacent, sit back and think they're going to coast," said Carabin. 

"But being in this game enough, I know that an early goal tends to rile up the other team. So I think at half-time everyone realized. We have some senior guys that turned around and said 'I'm not working hard enough' and we went in with a different mindset in the second half. Other than that, we made a few tactical changes when we got down to 3-2, bringing on some fresh legs to try and drive through the middle, and some senior guys who knew what they were doing. I think that changed the game near the end."


Kashiff De Jonge (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

"I think again, it was poor game management here today," said Toronto Skillz technical director, Jake Doodnath.

"3-1 and a young team thinks it's over and just wanted to do their own thing on the field. We gave up the midfield and were not pressing as we were in the first half. We were giving them a chance to pick off the passes and against a team like that you pay the price for stepping away and not putting pressure as we did in the first sixty minutes."

Still, Doodnath was optimistic about certain individual performances and in particular about some of the academy's young players coming through. 

"I think what we can take is that we have some 16 and 17 year old players coming up that played amazing in the first half," he said. 

"We were missing our very influential midfielder, Ryan [Reid], but these guys stepped up and for three quarter of the game they did well, so we take positives that some of our young players that are coming through the system are doing well when given the opportunity." 


Photo: Martin Bazyl

With the win, and a loss by Woodbridge Strikers the same day to east division leaders Vaughan Azzurri, Durham United moves into second place in the east division with 32 points from 15 matches. 

Vaughan Azzurri has 37 points from 16 matches, while Woodbridge Strikers drop into third place with 32 points from 16 matches. In fourth position is North Toronto Nitros, holding 30 points after 16 matches.  


(Photo: Martin Bazyl)