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Match Recap: Durham United FA 2 - 3 FC London

By League1 Ontario staff, 07/17/17, 1:45PM EDT

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Sandro Rajkovic (8'), Stephen Al-Sayed (22') and a Durham own goal (45') set up FC London for a 3-2 victory over Durham United FA in Matchweek 12, despite a possibility of a second half comeback sparked by Le Rohne Young's (76') second half strike.

The loss marked the second in four days as Durham had bowed out of the L1 Cup earlier in the week following a loss to Vaughan Azzurri in penalties.

"Durham is a very good team and it is tough for them to have to play a second game so soon after playing one of the top teams in the league in Vaughan," said FC London assistant coach Eduard Schmidt.  

"You could see that their players were tired. I think they are one of the best teams in the league for individual players and I wish them the best for the remainder of the season."


(Photo: Martin Bazyl Photography)

Durham's first half goal by Bruce Cullen (26') was the lone high point for the hosts after London came out the gates the stronger of the two teams.

"We were just bad at the start today," said Durham head coach, Sanford Carabin. "Everybody came out flat, nobody was motivated, I don't know exactly what it was."

"We played a good game mid-week in the Cup, everyone worked hard, but we dropped about three or four levels today. I think maybe the players came in looking at London's record and thinking 'okay, we have a chance.' I heard some of our guys saying this wasn't the London team of last year but it doesn't really matter. Every team in this league is tough if you don't come and play." 

"We made a few changes for this game to rotate a few guys into starting spots that don't normally start because of the midweek game. I think sometimes when players get in they think they have the starting spot now and can just coast, but it is a good eye opener for a lot of the players. It was a better second half, but it's all relative. We scored one more goal than them but we still lost the game." 


(Photo: Martin Bazyl Photography)

London pull into fourth place in the west division with the win, and extend their unbeaten streak to six matches.

"Overall the team played a beautiful game tody," said Schmidt.

"We showed today that we deserved to win by more than one goal I think. We are unbeaten now for two months in the league, but we didn't win many of those games and now finally we got a win that we deserved. We are very happy about that."

"We want the opponent to be scared of us when they come to play, and know that they will have to fight for everything," he added. 

"We are able to win now against any opponent in the league, and we will see in the end how we finish. I think we can beat any team in the league but we will see where we end up."


(Photo: Martin Bazyl Photography)

With the loss, Durham drop into fourth place in the east division and are six points away from Woodbridge Strikers at the top of the table, although the Strikers hold one game in hand.

"We have got away from our playing style of last year and we have to try and get it back," said Carabin. 

"We are used to dictating possession and right now we are not doing it. We have a lot of work to do."

"Everybody is taking points from everybody, there is a lot of parity in the league this year. Woodbridge is still staying up there and hanging on. I wouldn't think we are out of it, but we're going to have to get a lot better to compete."

Durham United FA will next play Windsor TFC on July 23 at University of Windsor, Windsor.

FC London will next play Aurora FC on July 21 at German Canadian Club, London.