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Gigolaj Hat-Trick Leads FC London To 7-0 Rout Of Masters

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/25/16, 10:45PM EDT

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FC London rebounded from a recent dip in form to smash visitors Masters FA Saints 7-0 on Friday night. 

"We're feeling excellent," said FC London assistant coach, Phillip Millar. "We worked all week on a certain game-plan and the boys executed it perfectly."

"It's what makes soccer amazing. If you watch that game on a video, you will see we did something specific and all the guys executed. It was beautiful. I don't think the age of the opponent was really a factor in this performance, I think it was down to the game-plan that the head coach brought to the table." 

Elvir Gigolaj (49', 62', 85') led the way for the home side with a tidy hat-trick, putting him on eight for the season - one behind Sigma's Leaford Allen at the top of the goalscoring charts. London keeper Anthony Sokalaski registered his fifth clean sheet of the season. 

"It feels good to bounce back after the two losses and I'm sure the changing room is buzzing right now," said Gigolaj.  

"I haven't really been on point with finishing in the last few games, but you just have to keep your head up and keep going and it will come. You need to keep doing what the coach asks of you and keep it cool, and that's what I did tonight and it fell for me."

First Randy Ribeiro (23') and then Ryan Pereira (24') got the home side off to a dream start, while Daniel Amaya (57') and Mohammed Reza Nafar (73') added two more in the second half. With Gigolaj's hat-trick, London filled the Masters net with seven on the night, and it could have been more - two goals were called back for offside decisions, and London were dominant in play. 

Masters technical director Junior Groves had a unique take on the result, taking a sage long view on the potential benefits of his side's performance.

"It's a lesson I think for my younger players," said Groves. "I brought my youth today and I just wanted to teach them a lesson. Now that they are up against senior football, they need to get senior on the training ground. They have to stop deflecting."

"It's very important for the youth in our culture and in football to respect the senior players. Today they have learned what it is like, and for me it is more important to teach them how to change then to look at the score. Today they learned that lesson, and thank-you to FC London for teaching them a lesson."

"This is beautiful today," he added. "I will show up at the training ground on Monday and they will be ready to move forward. I needed this message to be sent, and now it has."

FC London is currently second place in the west division and will host east division fourth place side Kingston Clippers on July 2 (7:30 p.m.) at German Canadian FC Stadium "The Cove."

Masters is currently seventh in the east division and will play Pro Stars on July 2 (9 p.m.) at L'Amoreaux, Scarborough. Masters also has an upcoming L1 Cup semi-final against Vaughan Azzurri on a date TBD. 

"We rested our senior players, and now we have our youth ready to work," concluded Groves. "We are moving forward to the semi-finals of the L1 Cup, I have a squad that is rested and ready to work - I'm good, I'm happy. This is a beautiful night!"