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Gigolaj And Sokalaski Lead FC London To 2-0 Away Win Over Windsor

By League1 Ontario staff, 08/28/16, 8:30AM EDT

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Photo: Ian Shalapata


Andrew Sokalaski (Photo: Ian Shalapata)

FC London's Elvir Gigollaj (43', 90') shot to the top of the 2016 Golden Boot race with 19 goals from 15 outings, while teammate and keeper Anthony Sokalaski added his eighth clean sheet of the season following a 2-0 away defeat of Windsor Toronto FC Stars.

"First of all, we saw that Windsor was a very good team, and playing on this pitch you have to change your playing style a little bit," said FC London head coach, Mario Despotovic. 

"Second half we did just that, also because I was not happy with the number of chances that Windsor produced based on their quality," he added. "They have this player Dragoi, who is really making a difference in Windsor's team and it is hard to stop him so we created an overload in the middle and played more defensively because we had the 1-0."

Windsor head coach Dave Rimbert explained that the loss was frustrating, not least as Windsor had the chances to open the scoring early and could not take them. 

"Yes, well especially in the first half we had our chances but that's the game, you cannot squander that many," he said. "The keeper made a really good save on one header but we had our chances."

"We gave up a cheap penalty, a mistake, and the mental part of it is just as important in sports and we weren't mentally strong today." 

"That's the way the game goes, sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it won't go in and today was one of those things," he added. 

"It's a little disappointing because that's twice we've played these guys and twice I felt we could have came out with points but both times we lost." 

London made some tactical adjustments to counter Windsor's strengths, and Despotovic explained that his team's versatility and fortitude were for him the highlights of the match. 

"Today was not a beautiful game to watch but it was a good game," he said. 

"I think every time you come to Windsor from London there is always a bit of tension between the teams and I think this type of game was really good for my team."

"I told them in second half that we needed to continue playing defensively well and focus on counter-attacks. The counters were there, we found the spaces very well, but the execution was a little bit weak today."

Despotovic also had words of praise for his keeper. 

"It was [Sokalaski's] third clean sheet in a row, and I think this season he has the most in the league," he said. 

"Sokalaski is really improving as a keeper and how he commands the defence and builds up from the back on better pitches is amazing, so I'm really happy with him."

With the result, FC London (37) pulls within one point of west division leaders Sigma FC (38). Although Sigma will play on Sunday and look to pad out their lead further, FC London also holds advantage in matches played, with only 16 completed as compared to Sigma's 18 matches played.