September 22, 2013 CSL--Toronto Croatia vs Burlington SC (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday September 22, 2013 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and Burlington SC played at Hershey Fields in Mississauga at 8:00pm.

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

....................12 Antonio Ilic
7 Halburto Harris...4 Sven Arapovic...3 Josip Keran...15 Ainsley Deer
11 Jarek Whiteman...22 Mladen Bajamic...18 Boze Poljak...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams
.............9 Kresimir Prgomet...10 Tihomir Maletic (cpt)

Subs:...17 Mateo Sutic (gk)...5 Roberto Galle (mid)...6 Hrvoje Perkovic (def)...19 Petar Mingon (mid)...20 David Alva (mid)
...21 Daniel Niksic (mid)...25 Joseph Filipic (mid)
team officials:...head coach Velimir Crljan...assistant coach Miodrag Akmadzic...manager Ivan Kulis...assistant manager Perica Arapovic ...physiotherapist Amanda Liddle

Burlington SC (blue socks and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

.....................1 Vladimir Vujasinovic
5 Mario Gavran...22 Nikola Stanojevic (cpt)...6 Predrag Papaz...3 Milos Vucinic
4 Nenad Nikolic...8 James Stanopoulos...10 Judah Hernandez...16 Abdullah Abdullah
........14 Jamal Allison...11 Nicholas Lindsay

Subs:...12 Andrew Stringer (gk)...2 Mustafa Mohammad (mid)...7 Darko Thomas (fwd)...9 Marco Machado (mid)...15 Derek Lubertino (def)
...18 Steven Craig (--)...19 Anes Handanovic (mid)
team officials:...assistant coach Anthony Gialtzis...director Dean Milankovic

Game officials:...referee Justin Tasev...referee's assistants Sahab Jamshidi and Blake Williams...fourth official David Di Pasquale
...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...starts 8:05pm...TC defends south end...there is no scoreboard so all times are converted from my wristwatch.
4 min...TC Whiteman shoots 25 yarder from right is well wide right of net.
6 min...BSC Allison heads 20 yarder from right that bounces to goalie.
6 min...BSC Stanojevic cornerkick from right is cleared from box.
7 min...BSC goalie catches 40 yard chip from right.
10 min...TC Whiteman 30 yard shot from right is low and caught by goalie.
11 min...BSC Gavran throw-in from right is tapped back to him and his 25 yard cross is caught by goalie.
14 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right is caught by goalie.
17 min...BSC Nenad Nikolic GOAL...BSC Nicholas Lindsay rushes on right and dribbles by two defenders and rolls ball along 6 yard box for Nikolic to kick in 5 yarder down middle past goalie Antonio Ilic.
21 min...BSC Stanojevic 45 yard freekick down middle bounces through players and goalie grabs it.
23 min...TC Harris on give and go up middle then passes to left and TC Fitzwilliams rolls 10 yarder across 6 yard box and defender clears.
26 min...BSC Stanojevic cornerkick from right has BSC Gavran knock down at 8 yards but defender clears.
27 min...TC Maletic steals ball from BSC Stanojevic at 22 yards on left and runs in and 12 yard low shot has sprawling goalie block.
29 min...BSC YELLOW card...Nikotic earns it for holding TC player at BSC 20 yards on right.
30 min...TC Poljak 22 yard freekick from right has goalie punch ball away.
32 min...BSC Lindsay is hurt on check near center line.
34 min...TC Harris rush in from right takes low 20 yard shot tha goalie blocks TC Fitzwilliams blasts 20 yard rebound over net and back fence.
35 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right is worked out but wasted as no cross is sent into box.
36 min...BSC Lindsay rolls pass forward on right and BSC Allison takes 20 yard shot from extreme right that goalie bats down and picks up.
39 min...Croatia Sven Arapovic GOAL...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right has TC Hayden Fitzwilliams head 12 yarder up middle that hits the underside of the bar. Arapovic heads in the 10 yard rebound from the middle into the left side of the net.
40 min...TC Poljak blasts 35 yard freekick low into player wall than blasts 35 yard rebound well high and wide left.
44 min...TC Deer long throw-in from left to TC Maletic on left edge of box and pass to TC Prgomet who is broken up.
46 min...Croatia Josip Keran GOAL...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right has Keran dive forward and head 6 yarder from even with left post to just under the bar on the left. Keran jammed his arm into the ground on the play but continued in the game.
48 min...TC Fitzwilliams cross from left has goalie bobble on right post.
48 min...half ends 8:53pm.

2nd Half:...starts 9:12pm.
48 min...TC Whiteman eludes defender with push off on right and rolls cross that TC Prgomet shoots low 20 yarder just wide right of net.
51 min...BSC Thomas (he must have come in at halftime) intercepts ball and quick 30 yard shot from right is caught by goalie.
52 min...TC Prgomet gets up after fall to tap pass back and TC Whiteman and shot is deflected for cornerkick.
53 min...Croatia Sven Arapovic GOAL...TC Tihomir Maletic cornerkick from right is over players in box. A TC player heads an 8 yarder from the left that goalie Vladimir Vujasinovic bobbles on the left post and partial clearance has Arapovic kick in 8 yard shot over fallen goalie.
55 min...BSC Nikolic rush on right right runs to end line and rolls cross that goalie picks up unchallenged.
58 min...TC Maletic rolls pass to open TC Lindsay on right and 30 yard blast tips off defender and flies well over net.
58 min...TC player's cornerkick from left is cleared from box.
60 min...TC goalie catches popped up deflection of 20 yard shot.
62 min...TC sub...Niksic replaces Prgomet.
64 min...TC Maletic rolls through ball pass for TC Whiteman but defender holds him off and goalie picks up ball.
65 min...TC goalie out of box to beat BSC Lindsay to kick away ball and survive collision.
67 min...TC sub...Galle replaces Fitzwilliams.
.........TC sub...Alva replaces Bajamic.
.........BSC sub...Machado replaces Allison.
67 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from left is over players in box.
70 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has defender head ball away.
72 min...BSC Stanojevic cornerkick from right has play whistled down in box.
74 min...TC Maletic cornerkick from right has goalie in crowd puch ball away. TC Nikolic kicks 18 yarder midair down middle over bar.
75 min...TC sub...Mingon replaces Whiteman.
79 min...BSC Thomas 20 yard cross from far left has defender head ball away.
81 min...BSC Nikolic intercepts clearance and low 28 yard shot caught by goalie.
82 min...BSC Nikolic receives pushed pass and low 18 yard shot from right is tipped wide by sliding goalie at 15 yards.
82 min...BSC Stanojevic cornerkick from right bends behind net before coming into play so whistled down.
83 min...TC YELLOW card...Mingon for tripping BSC Stamopoulos from behind at TC 30 yards.
85 min...BSC Stanojevic 35 yard freekick from left has defender head ball away.
86 min...Croatia Roberto Galle GOAL...TC Tihomir Maletic at 45 yards in middle passes forward and left to charging Galle in open and he shoots a 20 yard kick over the goalie to the center of net.
86 min...BSC sub...someone replaces Vucinic.
87 min...TC sub...Perkovic (?) replaces Poljak.
.........BSC sub...Handanovic replaces someone.
89 min...TC goalie smothers 20 yard shot on right post.
89 min...TC Maletic pushes ball over BSC right end line as he fell after receiving throw-in.
89 min...TC Mingon pushes pass to TC Harris on right and low 20 yard shot has sprawling goalie block.
90 min...game ends 9:59pm.

Final Score:......Toronto Croatia......4.....................Burlington SC.........1............

Attendance was about 80 on this very cold night. This game was moved from Centennial Stadium on a few days notice because of continuous repairs to the field to fix the damage from the extreme sports permit holders. There was no sound system nor scoreboard so all times are converted from my wristwatch. This field was the home of Mississauga Eagles FC last season when they fielded a team in the CSL.

Croatia's two center backs took care of the first three goals with Sven Arapovic and Josip Keran moving up into the box to play cornerkicks. Team captain and leading scorer Tihomir Maletic set up all of the goals tonight. Croatia's two goals near the end of the first half turned the game around on the scoreboard (if there'd been one) but they had the better chances for the entire first half.

Burlington players grew frustrated that their passes were coninuously being intercepted when it came to press into the Croatia end. Nicolas Lindsay and second half sub Darko Thomas were their main threats.

Best non-scoring chances were at 27 minutes when TC Tihomir Maletic stole the ball from BSC defender and captain Nikola Stanojevic at 22 yards on the left and ran to 12 yards and sent a low shot that the sprawling goalie blocked. 30 minutes had TC Boze Poljak shoot a 22 yard freekick from the right that the goalie punched away. 34 minutes had TC Halburto Harris rush in from the right and take a low 20 yard shot that the goalie blocked and TC Hayden Fitzwilliams blasted the 20 yard rebound over the net and the back fence. 74 minutes and TC Maletic's cornerkick from the right had the goalie in a crowd of players punch away and TC Sven Arapovic kicked an 18 yarder in midair down the middle over the bar.

The result improves Toronto Croatia to 13 wins, 2 losses, 4 ties for 43 points and a tie for 2nd place with York Region Shooters who we'd heard had lost to 1st place Kingston FC in the afternoon. Burlington has their record fall to 6 wins, 14 losses, 0 ties for 18 points and all alone in 11th place with only two games to go to try to move up to the 8th and last playoff spot.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Toronto Croatia (in red shirts) and Burlington SC (in blue shirts) take to the field.