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Match Recap: Oakville Blue Devils 2 - 1 Masters FA Saints

By League1 Ontario staff, 08/01/17, 10:30AM EDT

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Oakville Blue Devils kept pace with Sigma FC at the top of the men's west division table following a ten-man 2-1 comeback victory over Masters FA Saints in front of a delighted home crowd at Sheridan College on Matchweek 14.

"Really pleased to get a result," said Oakville Blue Devils head coach, Duncan Wilde. 

"To go behind again, and go down to ten men again, is a challenge but we've done that twice this year and we've been a little braver this year by deciding to still go on and win the game."

"We've been a bit more aggressive in chasing the points because we know the importance of the points at this stage of the season. Being in front of a decent crowd at home, we thought we'd give it a run and Filipe [Vilela] scored probably the goal of the season to win us the points. We're really pleased." 


Felipe Vilela (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Joey Melo (12') opened the scoring for Masters early on, and caused regular problems for the hosts. 

"Joey [Melo] gave us all kinds of problems in between the lines and his movement is still excellent," said Wilde. 

"I pointed him out to one or two of our youngsters today. He is a great player and when he was able to come along and give our team so many difficulties, it evened the game a little bit." 


Joey Melo (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

After some adjustments made by the Blue Devils, Judah Hernandez (56') cropped up for the equalizer just ahead of the hour mark. Filipe Vilela's (81') late winner marked a progressive period of dominance for the home side at the end of the match, and duly rewarded the team with all three points.

"I think we played excellent, and Joey's goal there really lifted the boys up," said Masters coach Mason. 

"In the last ten minutes of the game we had a little injury and it kind of broke us down a bit. I think overall we were in full control of the game and despite a few mistakes on the counter where they broke us down I thought we were the better team. Mistakes happen in football, but we just need to get on top of our game again."

"I don't think we did anything particularly different [to comeback today]," said the Blue Devils' Wilde. 

"The players know that we believe in them and we know that we have a good blend this year. Even at ten men we know that if we take care of the back-line we can counter and score. When you have a player the quality of Felipe in there, and a few more as well, nobody should be surprised at the quality of the goal we scored." 


(Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Oakville Blue Devils will now turn their attention to a massive midweek match against west division rivals Sigma FC. 

"We'll look at what's happening through training this week and go through our prep just as we have all season," said Wilde. 

"It's all set up now to be a great top of the table clash, and I am sure it will be exactly that." 

Oakville Blue Devils will next play Sigma FC on August 3 at Hershey Centre, Mississauga.

Masters FA Saints will next play FC London on August 12 at L'Amoreaux, Scarborough.