skip navigation

Kingston Cataraqui Clippers 0 - Durham United FC 0

By lo admin, 06/23/14, 3:30PM EDT

Share

Kingston Cataraqui Clippers 0 - Durham United FC 0

Mon Jun 23 
Written By: Fletcher, Alex
 

It was a game of missed opportunities, one where both teams left two points on the field.

Kingston's Mayor, Mark Gerretsen, was on hand at the game, and took part in the opening coin toss between the Cataraqui Clippers and Durham United FC.

The game started brightly as there was an early chance in the second minute for the Clippers. Antonios Assaad fired in a low cross toward Timothy Campos that Eugene Alves was able to clear away as the two players slid for the ball. A couple of minutes later, Thomas Daechsel was called into action as he blocked a low shot to his right from Shaquille Agard, who came streaking down the left wing of the field.

As the game began to open up, most of the Clippers' chances came down their left flank, with Assaad getting the better of Ethan Saimovici, while the DUFC attack funnelled along their own left flank as Agard found himself in a battle with Maxime El-Asmar, pitting his speed against El-Asmar's positional savvy.

In the twenty-third minute, a hard foul against Emile Saimovici left him in pain on the field and forced the game official, Vladamir Makarov, into having to put his game management skills into action. The result of that tackle eventually led DUFC's coach Tony La Ferrara into substituting Saimovici for Davinder Johal in the forty-second minute.

Oliver Coren had a gold-plated chance in the twenty-ninth minute as he beat DUFC's captain Nicholas Goddard with a flick and turn move, getting in alone on Alves. But Alves proved he was equal to the task, palming the ball away to keep the 0-0 scoreline intact.

The half finished without a goal from either team, not much of a surprise with the limited opportunities from either side. In fact, with both teams packing the midfield with identical 4-2-3-1 formations, the game was so tightly congested that the first, and only, offside call of the half was made in the thirty-fifth minute.

Clippers made a substitution to start the second half, removing Stephane Emard and replacing him with Luke Phye in the left back position.

The second half started a lot more open than the first half, as both teams pressed to try to get an early advantage: Clippers' Campos forced Alves into a diving save to his right in the fiftieth, while DUFC's Jordon Dover cut through the Clippers' defense before being stymied by defensive midfielder Jason Massie. Massie's clearance led to an immediate opportunity at the other end, with Assaad firing a shot just wide of Alves' post.

The game was becoming furious in its pace, with chances coming at both ends and the defenses and goalkeepers equal to the task. Few moments were better than Daechsel's leap and palming of the ball just over the bar on a strong header from Ethan Saimovici after a pinpoint cross from Agard.

By this point, it was becoming evident that Goddard was the lynchpin of DUFC's defense, as he was involved in defending almost every attack Clippers made, whether by getting a calculated tackle in, or by a desperation last-second clearance before a shot could be taken.

Clippers made their second sub of the game in the sixty-fifth, bringing Campos off and replacing him with Andrew Martin. The game continued on the same lines until an enforced stoppage in the seventy-third as Coren and Alves collided in the area. Ethan Saimovici went down injured moments later, and DUFC were forced into their second change, bringing on Erick Leal in his place.

Three more changes were made in the seventy-ninth, with Clippers bringing Tommy Hong off for Joel Zelt, and DUFC taking Jordan Hargrave off for Colin Francis, and Agard off for Kyle Laborde. The changes almost paid off immediately for DUFC as Le Rohne Young got in tight before laying the ball off to Laborde. Dylan Kirk pulled out of a potential foul, allowing Laborde in on Daechsel who toe-poked the ball away from danger.

As time began to wind down, Greg Simmons replaced Assaad in the eighty-fourth minute for the Clippers. Just over a minute later, Leal fouled Zelt, earning the first caution of the game. A minute later, Massie almost joined him in the book for his own tackle.

A couple of corner kicks and free kicks in the dying minutes for either team led to nothing, and the teams shared the spoils of the first 0-0 draw in League1 Ontario history.

Durham United's coach, Tony La Ferrara felt that it was a good, evenly played game and a fair result, while Chris Eveleigh, Clippers coach was disappointed for the first time this season, saying, "we absolutely dominated the game, and these are the games we need to win."