August 2, 2023 League1 Ontario...Scrosoppi FC and Blue Devils FC game report (by Rocket Robin)

..............

Result and details of the Wednesday August 2, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between
Scrosoppi FC and Blue Devils FC played at Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan at 9:00pm.

Scrosoppi FC (all black uniforms, white numbers)

....................1 Andreas Vaikla
2 Carlo Difeo...6 Victor Gallo (cpt)...4 Joshua Parades...12 Luke Rankin
........21 Alexander Zis...13 Manveer Gill...18 Khody Ellis
........10 Nikolas Blaskovic...99 Taha Ilyass...9 Mauro Lulli

Subs:...22 Stanislaw Skublak (gk)...15 Anthony Stolar...16 Sebastian Lopez...19 Kyle Porter
...20 Jace Foster...23 Santiago Ubate...36 Danny Medeiros...37 Reshard Peetam...66 Beryai Khan
team officials:...team head coach John Yacou...assistant coach Luis Domingos...therapist Miccchael Wong
and Shayne Griffin
Suspended players: Tomasz Skublak

Blue Devils (all white uniforms, navy numbers)

...................1 Erik Hermanns
2 Andra Neptune...5 Kevin Sinclair...4 Patrick Perriel...3 Elijah Wanlass
............19 James Lima...17 Noah Macintyre...11 Gianluca Spadafora
............6 Adam Czerkawski...10 Brandon Duarte (cpt)...20 Damola Akanni

Subs:...26 Taylor Miskolczi (gk)...12 Samer Hamade...9 Damion Kaye...15 Marcus Riviere
...21 Abraham Jones...22 Matthew Laic...24 Matthew McGrouther...25 Shaq Lowe
team officials:...team head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coaches Billy Steele and Glenn McNamara
...manager Kim Ashton...equipment manager Mark Heathcote Suspended players: none

Game officials:...referee Melvin Christopher...referee's assistants Bradley Doubrough and Marko Grubisic
...fourth official Ryan Schwenger...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 8:03pm...Scrosoppi defends north end on this middle night with a strong breeze from the south.
The game starts overcast and it's dusk.
2 min...BD Akanni is injured on left end line but wins cornerkick.
2 min...BD MacIntyre cornerkick from left has goalie in crowd of players swat ball through box and out for cornerkick on right.
3 min...BD MacIntyre cornerkick from right has defender head away.
4 min...BD Spadafora 45 yard freekick from left has leaping BD Czerkawski not able to turn ball and it's out for goalkick.
5 min...Scr Rankin makes big headed clearance in box.
8 min...Scr goalie catches shot at 6 yards.
8 min...Scr Ilyass runs down right and low cross along 10 yard line. Scr Zis shot is just wide right of post.
15 min...BD Neptune can't get to high cross at right end line before it's over end line.
16 min...BD players conduct multi pass play but can't get away shot.
16 min...BD Czerkawski cross from right side of box is chested down and cleared by defender.
18 min...BD Duarte steals ball off Scr Gill at 40 yards and run up right for 10 yard blast that goalie palms up on right post
and catches on its way down.
20 min...BD Sinclair clears ball from box on centering pass from right sending BD Lima for break on right.
23 min...BD Noah MacIntyre at 65 yards sends BD James Lima away for a long run down the right wing and his high cross is caught overhead by goalie Andreas Vaikla unthreatened at 7 yards. Referee Melvin Christopher awards BD a Penalty kick and gives a Yellow card to Scr Victor Gallo for tripping BD Adam Czerkawski who had just run into the box at full speed trying to get to the ball.
24 min...Blue Devils Brandon Duarte GOAL...Duarte blasts Penalty kick to right side as goalie Andreas Vaikla flies to left.
26 min...Scr Lulli low cross along 2 yard line is cleared in box. Scr Ilyass cross from left is cleared.
31 min...BD Neptune chips cross from 30 yards on right that's cleared in box.
32 min...BD MacIntyre 45 yard freekick on left is over players in box and out right side.
38 min...Scr Ellis rolls cross from 22 yards along end line and goalie dives forward to smother.
40 min...Scr Lulli collapses before BD throw-in near sideline.
.........Scr sub...Foster replaces injured Lulli before BD Neptune's throw-in at Scr 40 yard line on right.
41 min...BD MacIntyre rolls centering pass into Scr box and defender clears.
42 min...Scr Zis cornerkick from right has Scr Ilyass heads ball forward from 12 yards and another Scr player flicks 6 yarder that
flying defender heads away on goal line.
43 min...Scr Zis cornerkick from right has Scr Gallo pop up header at 12 yards that goalie catches at 3 yards.
44 min...BD Wanlass high cross from left is over players in box.
46 min...Scr Parades 30 yard freekick from right is chipped and Scr player is called offside when he heads 5 yarder into
left outside webbing of net.
47 min...half ends 9:50pm.

Halftime: Blue Devil players return to the dressing room. Scr players stay on their bench. The subs warm up on the field.

Second Half:...starts 10:05pm.
halftime subs:...BD McGrouther replaces Czerkawski.
46 min...Scr YELLOW card...Parades earns it for knock over of BD Lima at Scr 22 yards.
47 min...BD Duarte lofts 20 yard freekick from slight left over bar.
48 min...Scr Zis 33 yard cross from right is caught at 8 yards by goalie.
48 min...BD McGrouther pushes ball too far forward and goalie picks it up on right side of box.
49 min...BD YELLOW card...McGrouther earns it for knocking over goalie after he'd come outside top right of box to clear ball.
Scr goalie is injured on play and needs trainer.
54 min...Scr Ellis cross into box has BD Sinclair deflect back into box.
55 min...BD goalie drifts right to catch high ball.
57 min...BD player's 60 yard freekick from left is caught by goalie in between crowd of players.
57 min...Scr Parades is touches back ball and blasts 28 yarder from left that rolls wide right of net.
58 min...BD sub...Hamade replaces MacIntyre as BD Akanni nees trainer on center line.
59 min...BD sub...Santos replaces Akanni before play resumes.
60 min...BD Matthew McGrouther wins Penalty kick call when he and Scr Victor Gallo tangle with each other as McGrouther
tries dribbling around Gallo on left side of box and they both fall as Gallo bumps him over.
61 min...Blue Devils Brandon Duarte GOAL...Duarte blasts Penalty kick low to left side of net beyond diving goalie.
62 min...SCR YELLOW card...Blaskovic earns it for falling in top right corner of BD box trying to draw Penalty kick.
.........BD YELLOW card...Sinclair earns it for his part in multi-player dustup.
63 min...Scr sub...Khan replaces Blaskovic.
63 min...Scr Parades chips 30 yarder up middle and goalie makes easy catch.
67 min...Scr Ellis cross from right has Scr Foster not able to reach ball to head on left just inside 18 yard box.
67 min...Scr sub...Medeiros replaces Gill.
68 min...BD Spadafora makes high sliding block in BD box.
68 min...Scr Medeiros is called offside on 8 yard shot that goalie pushes wide left.
71 min...Scr Medeiros low cross on run down right wins cornerkick when defender steps in front of Scr Ilyass.
71 min...Scr Zis cornerkick from right has ball cleared.
73 min...Scrosoppi RED card...Captain Victor Gallo picks up his second Yellow card of the game when BD Brandon Duarte
is checked off a through ball by a sliding defender who gets all ball, gets up and starts rush upfield. Gallo looks
like he clotheslines Duarte who had turned to get back up to run upfield. Remember that his first Yellow was for
the trip that awarded the first Penalty kick!
75 min...BD Rankin needs tgrainer before play resumes.
76 min...BD Santos rolls 25 yard freekick from slight right directly to goalie on near post.
77 min...BD sub...Stanislaw Skublak (coming in as an outfield player) replaces injured Rankin.
78 min...Scr Foster low 20 yard shot between players on left that goalie smothers.
79 min...BD Santos blasts low 25 yarder up middle that bounces to goalie.
80 min...Scr Ellis chests ball down on right bu no one is in BD box to take his pass.
80 min...Scr Zis blasts 35 yarder down middle is well over net.
82 min...BD Spadafora turns and low 18 yard shot has goalie bat ball down and smother.
85 min...BD sub...Kaye replaces McGrouther.
...........BD sub...Riviere replaces Lima.
85 min...Scr Ilyass leaves field injured.
86 min...Scr Zis cross from right end line drifts behind net.
87 min...Scr sub...Ubate replaces Ilyass who'd left game minutes earlier.
89 min...Scr YELLOW card...Difeo earns it as both he and BD Duarte slide for ball at Scr 50 yard line.
90 min...BD YELLOW card...Wanlass earns it for time wasting on throw-in at Scr 20 yard line.
93 min...BD Duarte is pushed over in big player dustup.
94 min...Scr YELLOW card...Medeiros earns it for his part in dustup.
...........BD YELLOW card...Spadafora earns it for his part in dustup.
94 min...Blue Devils RED card...Damola Akanni earns a direct ejection while on the bench for something he said after
a big dustup in front of the BD bench which earned Scr Danny Medeiros and BD Gianluca Spadafora a Yellow card each.
Akanni had started the game but was subbed off at 59 minutes.
95 min...Scrosoppi RED card...Baryal Khan earns a straight ejection for a long sliding tackle on BD Elijah Wanlass
at about the center line as Wanlass was dribbling full speed up the left sideline.

Final Score:....Scrosoppi FC.......0......Blue Devils FC.......2......

Attendance reached about 150 on this warm evening. This was a battle of the first and second place teams which attracted people BUT it had a 9:00pm starting time. Another game (not L1O) was taking place until 8:00pm. Bishop Reding CSS school in Milton is undergoing renovations this year and all the Scrosoppi home games are being held at Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan, 38 km away. No ball kids. Two balls ended up over the fence into the long grass outside the grounds and were hopefully retrieved after the game. Two referee assessors answered me that there are five official game balls and if they were all lost, the game stops until one of them is retrieved.

Also a storm was promised by the weather app for midnight at the beginning of the day but by the afternoon, the storm was moved up to 10:00pm which would have been the halftime mark. What happened was exactly at 11:00pm which was within five minutes of the game ending, a few drops of rain fell. I was able to drive home in within 45 minutes and the sky opened up for most of the night.

Besides the first and second place in the team standings, I expected the game to feature the two leading scorers in the L1O, Tomasz Skublak of Scrosoppi who leads with 19 goals and Adam Czerkawski of Blue Devils who is second with 15. I saw Skublak in street clothes before the game while his teammates warmed up and saw on the game sheet that he was the only player on either team suspended for the game. A team official said it was for an accumulation of Yellow cards. The L1O site I checked later has him sitting on five. Czerkawski was a starter but was subbed off at halftime.

Brandon Duarte's two goals tonight brought his season total to eight and a six-way tie for tenth in the goalscoring race.

Erik Hermanns earned the shutout for Blue Devils with not too much to do. He was protected by a backline of Andra Neptune, Kevin Sinclair, Patgrick Perriel, and Elijah Wanlass.

Scrosoppi really missed Skublak as he is the 'Gretzky' or 'battle tank' of their offence. He can be given the ball on 1 v 4 and maintain possession until some teammates run forward to help him out. Balls are often sent up to him by long balls upfield but that strategy didn't work tonight with Blue Devils defenders often gaining possession or checking tonight's Scrosoppi forwards off the ball whether they were skied up the middle or kicked up the wing near the sideline. Scrosoppi looked even less threatening after 71 minutes playing with only ten men. Khody Ellis (a former Blue Devil) look frustrated up front especially when he was moved to the center forward position and wasn't getting the service.

Referee Melvin Christopher gave out twelve cards of various colours tonight (the league site always jumps to Red card overriding a Yellow that was given out to the player earlier in the game). Scrosoppi had seven including the two Reds.

The game officials tonight were some of the league's most experienced and I'd say they handled the game well. They had to put up with constant shouts from both benches (not just coaches but players) and players on the field. Every ball above the shin was 'hand ball' and every check was 'card him'. Lamest was right after the Blue Devils second goal when Scr Nikolas Blaskovic ran to the top right corner of the BD box trying to draw a Penalty kick and the referee gave him a Yellow for diving. A multi player dustup ensued and BD Kevin Sinclair was given a Yellow. Scrosoppi coach John Yacou subbed out Blaskovic for Baryal Khan and you can read what happened before the game ended. And a Red card after being subbed out and watching from the bench? Has Akanni not seen CPL York United FC games or maybe he emulates Mo Babouli?

The loss drops Scrosoppi to a record of 14 wins, 3 losses, 0 ties for 42 points. They have now given up 17 goals for the season which now leaves Electric City with the lowest total given up at only 16.

Blue Devils win improves their record to 12 wins, 3 losses, 3 ties for 39 points (note one more game played then Scrosoppi). Twenty games make up the season this year!

Both these teams are racing to secure the top six places for the playoffs which currently is held by Alliance United and Guelph United (who tied last night against the streaking Hamilton United who themselves are in a race to make the combined season Top 12 and survive at the Premier level for 2024) holding fifth and sixth with 32 points. Third and fourth spots (currently held by Vaughan and Simcoe County Rovers) earn a home date for the quarterfinals while first and second receive a bye into the semifinals and a home date for their match.

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
twitter @RocketRobin01


Scrosoppi FC starters


Blue Devils FC starters


Scrosoppi Manveer Gill (13) takes opening kickoff.


Blue Devils Patrick Perriel (4) makes centering pass in defence.


Blue Devils Brandon Duarte (10) will score on this Penalty kick.


Scrosoppi player cutting in along end line.


Blue Devils Brandon Duarte (10) will also score on this Penalty kick.


Handshakes after the game.

back to 2023 League1 Ontario menu

.

.