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Match Recap: Masters FA Saints 2 - 1 Toronto Skillz

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/05/17, 9:00AM EDT

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A run of heartbreak continues for Toronto Skillz as they dropped a 2-1 away result to Masters FA Saints on Matchweek Six. 

The contest was evenly balanced until late in the match, with Masters Maleik De Freitas (66') and Jose De Sousa (82') finally dispatching the goals that would win the day, but Toronto Skillz' Anhr El Eidani (88') made it interesting in the final stages by cutting the lead in half.  

Toronto Skillz were forced to play a man down for the final quarter hour after Paulo Henrique Olivia Da Silva was handed his walking papers following two cautions. The dismissal also resulted in a penalty for Masters, which Skillz keeper Spiro Koskinas did well to repel. 


(Photo: Martin Bazyl)

"Sometimes when a team goes down a man you will find they can be more dangerous, because what happens is players start to pick up their game and they pick up the slack of the player that left," said Masters head coach, Rick Titus. 

"You never know, the calls are impossible to predict and the team can get a bit fiery, which can work for them or against them. It was working for them tonight and near the end of the game we had to be patient, kill some time with the ball and just keep it. It was emotional at the end there, and you need to be careful with those kinds of games."

Skillz head coach Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick was disappointed in the result, but recognized how precariously balanced the outcome was between two sides that have struggled to find form.

"Today was a better performance, but good or bad performance we are just struggling to get the result," he said.  

"The unfortunate thing is we made two mistakes and were punished, and we were not punishing them for their mistakes. It's like a broken record the way we keep saying it, but when teams do make mistakes we need to punish them." 

"At 0-0 we had two gilt-edged chances to put the game away and then they came back," he described. 

"As much as players maybe want to blame officials on occasion, players can decide games themselves and so officials cannot be blamed. We had good performances by individuals and then a couple mistakes by those same individuals and it cost us tonight." 


Anhr El Eidani (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

On the subject of the team's increased potency despite going a man down, Fitzpatrick explained an upside that his team has maintained despite the run without positive results. 

"That is one of the positives to take from it, and that has always been the mark of the team - we don't really let our heads go down and give up," he said. 

"We tried to adjust a little bit tactically to give ourselves that chance to come back and I think the second goal took the wind out of our sails because we were in the midst of making the tactical adjustments when we gave up the second goal."

"At 1-0 you are well in it, even with a man down, but then at 2-0 you are going to struggle to get those two goals with the clock against you. I still think if we had more time we would have generated enough offence to give ourselves a chance or two to tie it up."

Masters FA Saints will next play Durham United FA on Friday June 9 at Kinsmen Park, Pickering.

Toronto Skillz will next play Aurora FC on Sunday June 11 at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough.