May 27, 2007 CSL North York Astros vs St Catharines Roma Wolves (from Astros web site)

Astros Lose Close, Controversial Game

NORTH YORK, May 27 – The North York Astros (0-0-2) suffered their second loss to open this season on Sunday, losing 1-0 to the St. Catharines Roma Wolves (1-0-1). Torrential rain pelted the players for the first 10 minutes of the match, causing players to lose their footing on occasions.

The Astros came out much stronger than they did in their season opener against the Italia Shooters, but still found themselves behind after only eight minutes. A turnover at midfield caused Roma Wolves forward Nick Aragona to streak in on Astros keeper Haidar Al-Shaibain. Astros defender Paul Okumu caught up and tried to edge him out, but Aragona shot it at Al-Shaibain, who rushed out to take away the shot. The shot was saved by Al-Shaibain, who then had Okumu trip over him as the ball landed back on Aragona’s foot. Aragona then fed teammate Carlo Arghittu who tapped the ball into the unguarded net.

After that, the Astros settled down and started to take control of the match. Diego Maradona, playing in only his second game in the CSL, showed much more confidence with the ball and with his playmaking abilities and was instrumental in setting up Selvin Lammie with two chances in the first half. Lammie, who by matches’ end had four attempts on goal, had shots roll just inches wide of each post in the 26th and 34th minute.

Brian Carbajal had a chance to tie up the match just before halftime, but his header was cleared away by a Roma Wolves defender. In injury time, Carbajal picked up his second yellow card in as many games when he slid hard into a Roma Wolves attacker, missing the ball and clipping the foot.

The Astros came out flying in the second half, having a few of their opportunities come close, but none beating Roma Wolves keeper Claudio Perri. In the 54th minute, a shot from the Astros deflected off of a Roma Wolves defender and rolled out for a corner. Perri, upset with the call, held onto the ball while Astros forward Jana Sadacharalingam tried to take it to perform a quick corner. Perri then threw the ball away from Sadacharalingam and dropped to the ground complaining that he had been hit. Referee Amato De Luca was not impressed and cautioned the boastful Perri. On the impending corner, Carbajal got a great jump on the defender and headed the ball towards the goal, which was turned away by Perri.

Tempers started to flare near the end of the match. With the Astros still attacking to get the equalizing goal, a clump of people drew near the goal. As the ball was cleared away, keeper Perri inexplicably punched Astros Lammie at the side of the net. This altercation was not seen by the referee, but Perri was given his second caution of the game and expelled from the match for Perri’s use of profanities. This caused the restart of the match to be in the form of a free kick outside of the penalty area, instead of a penalty kick. Further pressure heeded no goals and the match ended 1-0.

“We have made progress, even though we had 3 new players in the line-up. Obviously the fact of being such a young team comes with this type of situation, where you dominate a game for 90 minutes, but can not finish the opportunities that arise,” said coach Carbajal. “I'm not happy with the result because it's not a true reflect of what happened in the field but I'm happy to see that these young players are slowly coming to terms with the small pressures that playing in the CSL brings. It's just a matter of 2 or 3 more weeks before this team becomes exactly that, a team, and then we will be ready to achieve our goal which is to make the play-offs. Obviously patience is the key here, the results will come soon.”

Notes: Roma Wolves midfielder Tonardo Copeland was cautioned in the 20th minute for a dangerous tackle on an Astros midfielder…Roma Wolves keeper Tony Visca was substituted in after Perri’s expulsion and made three saves to preserve the clean sheet…

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