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Match Recap: OSU Force 2 - 3 Masters FA Saints

By League1 Ontario staff, 09/10/17, 10:30PM EDT

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An entertaining back-and-forth match between OSU Force and Masters FA Saints finally went the way of the visitors on Matchweek 20 as Masters' Maleik De Freitas (84') scored the winning goal to hand the Saints a 3-2 win. 

"It was a game that had to be won tactically," revealed Masters head coach, Rick Titus.

"We were tired and were up at four in the morning to come up here so the guys were visible tired in the first half and there was a little bit of anxiousness, aggressiveness and mis-timed tackles." 

Robert Murphy (42') opened the scoring for OSU with a thundering right-footed half-volley, but within minutes Dhalio Pozo (45') had equalized following some nice interplay among the Masters forwards.

Dakota Boal (68') gave OSU the lead once again with just twenty minutes left to play, but the Force couldn't hold on. 

"We definitely should have stayed a bit more compact on the defensive side of the game near the end, but we couldn't because most of these players haven't played together much yet," said OSU Force head coach, Traian Matheas. 

"It's a mix of different age-groups, calibre and so on, it's tough. There is no cohesiveness in the group, which was basically why we couldn't hold it."

"Attacking or defending, it is always about cohesiveness. You have to be able to play together and understand each other to keep the ball and capitalize." 

Masters made a tactical reshuffle and began to find their spaces on the counter late in the game, which paid dividends with a Marc Jankovic (78') equalizer and finally the winner from Maleik De Freitas (84'). 

"We just changed the tactics up a bit at the end," confirmed Titus.

"We moved to three at the back and moved our big centre-back into the midfield to clog it a little bit and it worked perfectly - we were winning a lot of balls in their attacking third. It was beautiful transition play, we had one, two, three passes and scored on the third goal. We had some very nice play, and I was very happy with the finish." 

OSU Force will next play Durham United FA on September 16 at Terry Fox South, Ottawa. 

Masters FA Saints will next play Aurora FC on September 16 at L'Amoreaux, Scarborough.