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Elkinson Strike Takes Nitros 1-0 Over Durham United FA

By League1 Ontario staff, 08/08/16, 11:00AM EDT

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Fifth place east division side North Toronto Nitros took on third place in the east, Durham United FA, on Sunday, winning 1-0 at University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium. 

East division All-Star Killian Elkinson (59') got the lone goal for Nitros, while fellow All-Star Mark Rogal kept the clean sheet. Elkinson's industry and quality up top for North Toronto was instrumental in the team's match-winning performance.

"I'm not going to talk just about Killian's performance today, because he has been playing like that all season," said North Toronto Nitros head coach, Hermann Kingue. 

""He is one of our most important players. He has an important role up front because we need him to keep the ball up top, and also he is very good at combining. It's just good to have such a good player."

North Toronto appeared to start the sharper of the two teams, but Durham began to take back momentum mid-way through the match, before Nitros again found a late head of steam. 

"The first twenty-seven minutes we played very well, we pressured them, we won many balls, and we put in place our game-plan," commented Kingue. 

"But, as the game was going by, we encountered the heat factor and players began to tire physically, we dropped a bit, and that's when we allowed them to pressure us." 

"When we had the half-time break, we adjusted and asked them to alternate between high press and dropping deep, and we did that very well."

Durham struggled to find fluency with several key players away at trials or returned to school programs, with several new faces being integrated into the squad.

"It's hard when you take four regular starters out of the lineup, and the conditions were hot for both teams, but you know the effort was there," said Durham coach, Felix Direnzo. 

"We're always disappointed in a loss, whether at home or on the road, but the effort was there so we'll go back and we'll work a little harder on fixing a few things and get them ready for the next match." 

"We had a couple of young guys step into some key roles," he concluded. 

"They gained a little bit more experience under tough conditions."

"We played a good team here, well disciplined, physical, and very fit. We did do things wrong, we weren't perfect by any stretch, but we lost to a good team. We're going to go back again to these young guys and fix a few things, and get them ready."