May 13, 2012 CSL--Toronto Croatia vs Brantford Galaxy (by Rocket Robin)

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Result of the Sunday May 13, 2012 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and Brantford Galaxy played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:00pm.

Toronto Croatia (black socks, white shorts and numbers, red shirts)

........................1 Panagiotis Koumoulas
7 Halburto Harris...4 Sven Arapovic...3 Josip Keran...15 Ainsley Deer
23 Tonci Pirija (cpt)...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams...11 Boris Tomac...24 Marin Vucemilovic Grgic
................10 Tihomir Maletic...18 Bozenko Lesina

Subs:...12 Antonio Ilic (gk)...6 Steipe Sosa (--)...9 Hugo Herrera (fwd)...19 Matthew Rios (mid)...20 Peter Gavran (fwd) ...21 Dino Buljan (mid)...22 Daniel Niksic (mid)
team officials:...head coach Velimir Crljan...assistant coach Miodrag Akmadzic...manager Ivan Kulis...assistant manager Perica Arapovic ...physiotherapist Michael Robinson

Brantford Galaxy (black socks, shorts, and numbers, white shirts)

........................1 Melford James Jr (cpt)
3 Robert Turnbull...15 Zoran Maletic...2 Kyle Grootenboer...18 Logan Alexander
16 Braeden Krampert...8 Christopher Leko...5 Nikolas Jelic...11 Adam Leggett
.................9 Dave Simpson...10 Damion Scott

Subs:...0 Jeff Martins (gk)...6 Preston Corporal (fwd)...7 Marco Machado (mid)...14 Trevor Schein (def)...17 Stefan Dancetovic (mid) ...23 Simo Vrakela (mid)
team officials:...head coach Ron Davidson...assistant coach Tomislav Dancetovic...manager Jim Turnbull

Game officials:...referee David Barrie...referee's assistants Marie Soleil Beaudoin and Andrew Wiles...fourth official Arthur Korbiel ...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 8:05pm...TC defends south end on this mild but cooling evening with a hazy sun setting in the north west.
1 min...BG Scott blasts 35 yarder down middle down that's cleared in box.
2 min...BG goalie catches 25 yard shot from right.
4 min...TC Vucemilovic Grgic cornerkick from left is cleared and TC Vucemilovic Grgic recross is called offside when headed from right.
5 min...BG goalie dives out at 12 yards to swat ball away from TC Vucemilovic Grgic on break.
7 min...BG Scott is injured at BG 40 yards.
10 min...Galaxy Dave Simpson GOAL...Simpson rolls 15 yard shot up middle beyond diving goalie Panagiotis Koumoulas at 2 yards and into left corner of net. Simpson and Damion Scott had worked up a pass in the box.
12 min...TC goalie catches 40 yard shot between crowd of players.
14 min...TC Vucemilovic Grgic low cornerkick from left is deflected by defender at 12 yards for cornerkick.
14 min...TC Vucemilovic Grgic cornerkick from left is partially cleared than passed offside.
17 min...BG Alexander in crowd of players takes a low 12 yard shot wide left of the post.
19 min...TC Bozenko Lesina GOAL...TC Tonci Pirija sends a pass through the middle from 40 yards that finds Lesina and he chips 15 yard shot from left over the sprawling goalie Melford James Jr at 8 yards and into the right corner of the net.
20 min...BG Alexander 15 yard shot from left is off defender and deflects for cornerkick.
21 min...BG Scott cornerkick from left is low and cleared by nearest defender.
21 min...BG Grootenboer 30 yard shot through crowd of players is well over net.
22 min...TC Tihomir Maletic rushes for bouncing through ball but goalie catches bounce at 15 yards.
25 min...BG Leggett just step behind pass into box up middle and goalie pics up ball at 8 yards.
29 min...TC Pirija 22 yard blast up the middle through a crowd of players has flying goalie bat wide right of the net.
29 min...TC Deer cross from 25 yards on the left has TC Fitzwilliams flick a header from 12 yards down the middle that the goalie catches.
30 min...TC Lesina gets around goalie at 25 yard on left and blasts low 22 yard shot into outside mesh of net.
32 min...Galaxy YELLOW card...Nikolas Jelicic earns it for pulling down TC Bozenko Lesina just inside the box when TC Tihomir Maletic fed him a box into the middle. Referee David Barrie also awarded TC a Penalty kick.
.........Galaxy YELLOW card...Adam Leggett earns it for mouthing off to referee.
34 min...TC Tihomir Maletic GOAL...Maletic takes the Penalty kick to the low right corner of the net as the goalie dived to the left.
35 min...BG Alexander rush down right and blasts 20 yard shot wide left of net.
37 min...TC Tihomir Maletic rolls pass from 25 yards on right has TC Tomac 10 yard shot down middle has sliding defender deflect ball over net.
38 min...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right has TC Keran pops header from 10 yards on left over net.
29 min...BG Zoran Maletic is injured at 35 yards.
47 min...half ends 8:52pm.

2nd Half:...starts 9:10pm...TC now defends the 'dark' end.
46 min...TC Bozenko Lesina GOAL...TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic on a run on the right passes a cross from 30 yards to Lesina at 10 yards on left and his sharp angle shot from 8 yards is into the right side of the net.
52 min...BG sub...Corporal replaces Zoran Maletic.
53 min...TC Tihomir Maletic bashed through two defenders for a 12 yard shot that is blocked by the goalie.
53 min...TC Fitzwilliams chips cross from 15 yards on left over head of TC player at 5 yards in middle.
56 min...BG Simpson 25 yard freekick is low from right into outside webbing of net.
58 min...BG Turnbull 30 yard freekick from right deflects off two players for goalie to smother at 5 yards.
59 min...BG Turnbull mid air one-touch blast from 30 yards down middle is well over net.
62 min...TC Vucemilovic Grgic rush on right and cross is rolled along end line from 18 yards has defender deflect for cornerkick.
62 min...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right is headed away. TC Tomac chips 22 yarder down middle just wide left of net.
66 min...TC sub...Buljan replaces Pirija.
66 min...BG Leggett freekick from 30 yards on right has ball headed around right of box and knocked over end line.
67 min...TC Fitzwilliams 25 yard shot from left has goalie bat down.
69 min...TC Lesina after a run up the right sends in a low cross from 22 yards and a defender pops up the ball with his foot and TC Tomac flicks a 5 yard header from the right into the outside mesh of the net.
70 min...TC YELLOW card...Buljan earns it for knocking down BG Scott at center line.
72 min...TC Lesina sends in a low cross from the right though the BG box. TC Maletic has a point blank shot from 8 yards that is stopped by the sprawling goalie who makes the save while on the ground, the ball deflects off Lesina at 5 yards and over the end line on the right before he can make a play.
73 min...TC sub...Niksic replaces Tomac.
.........BG sub...Machado replaces Krampert.
77 min...BG goalie catches 25 yard shot down middle.
77 min...TC Fitzwilliams rolls cross from 15 yards near left end line has defender make key clearance at 8 yards.
79 min...TC Marin Vucemilovic Grgic GOAL...TC Hayden Fitzwilliams at 40 yards sends in a pass from the left and Vucemilovic Grgic blasts a low 18 yarder from the right into the left corner of the net.
83 min...BG sub...Dancetovic replaces Scott.
84 min...TC Arapovic is injured at BG 40 yards but BG wins freekick.
85 min...TC sub...Sosa replaces Keran.
85 min...BG Corporal chip pass bounces over TC end line.
88 min...TC sub...Rios replaces Arapovic.
88 min...TC Deer passes ball at 12 yards and TC player's 15 yard shot is saved by goalie pushing ball wide of net.
89 min...TC player's cornerkick is over players in box.
90 min...TC sub...Gavran replaces Lesina.
91 min...TC Vucemilovic Grgic cornerkick from left has TC Fitzwilliams head ball just over net from 5 yards.
92 min...TC Deer is injured in heading ball which is saved in TC box.
93:05 min...game ends 9:58pm.

Final Score:......Toronto Croatia.......4..............Brantford Galaxy.............1............

Attendance was about 150 for this season opener for Toronto Croatia on this mild night with the temperature cooling rapidly after the sun set. This is a good mid-season crowd but must be a disappointment for a season opener for the defending league championships. Doesn't Mother's Day end after dinner time? Maybe casual fans stayed home to watch the telecast of Friday night's SC Toronto vs St Catharines Roma Wolves game.

Galaxy have opened up their season at 0-2. They fielded two players from last year's Toronto Croatia team—midfielders Christopher Leko and Braeden Krampert. They also played forward Dave Simpson who played for Mississauga Eagles last season as did fellow forward Damion Scott and goalie Melford James Jr. As I heard tonight, Galaxy's Eastern European players were not invited back to this year's team and five of themare now playing for London City this season.

Toronto Croatia got to defend the 'dark' side for the second half tonight (although it made only a marginal difference). This was because an entire bank of lights in the north end weren't working. From what I heard about Friday night's game held here between Serbian White Eagles and London City, the PA system wasn't working but we didn't have that trouble tonight.

The game wasn't rough but both teams had trouble stringing more than a few passes together. Referee David Barrie only gave three Yellow cards the whole game.

Best non-scoring chances were 17 minutes when BG Logan Alexander in crowd of players took a low 12 yard shot wide left of the post. At 29 minutes TC Tonci Pirija took a 22 yard blast up the middle through a crowd of players that the flying goalie batted wide right of the net. Within the same minute TC Ainsley Deer crossed from 25 yards on the left that had TC Hayden Fitzwilliams flick a header from 12 yards down the middle that the goalie caught. 53 minutes had TC Tihomir Maletic bashed through two defenders for a 12 yard shot that was blocked by the goalie. 69 minutes had TC Bozenko Lesina after a run up the right send in a low cross from 22 yards and a defender popped up the ball with his foot and TC Boris Tomac flicked a 5 yard header from the right into the outside mesh of the net. At 72 minutes TC Lesina sent in a low cross from the right though the BG box. TC Maletic had a point blank shot from 8 yards that was stopped by the sprawling goalie who made the save while on the ground, The ball deflected off Lesina at 5 yards and over the end line on the right before he could make a play. At 91 minutes TC Vucemilovic Grgic's cornerkick from the left had TC Fitzwilliams head the ball over the bar from 5 yards.

Galaxy also have a player named 'Maletic'--defender Zoran Maletic (no relation).

Toronto Croatia's next home game is next Sunday at 8:00pm against Brampton City United.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto Croatia starters