By Eaglesafc.com
11:15 AM Sun 31 May, 2009
THE TORONTO EAGLES registered their first win of the season with a hard fought match against a much improved Central Blues side.
The Eagles started the day with a setback as full forward Danny Bernstein was a late omission due to illness. Thankfully for coach Aaron Falcioni the inclusion of veteran players Troy Marsh and Vaughn Jazyk made Bernstein’s withdrawal less of an issue.
The first quarter, while a hard fought contest by both sides, is one the Eagles would most likely want to forget. Possession was slow and stagnant with no free flowing football by either side. The Blues ended the quarter a little harder than the Eagles pushing to more contests around the ground and ended up leading by 3 point after the first break.
After a stern address in the huddle from Falcioni and some reshuffling of positions, the Eagles came out in the second quarter more focus on their game plan. Unfortunately midway through the quarter midfielder Salvatore Capoferri was taken off the field due to illness and would sit out the rest of the game.
With the Eagles a man down and playing well below their usual standard, they were some how able to score two goals and hold the Blues to one point for the quarter taking a 9 point lead into the long break.
“The first half was just some really awful footy” stated Eagles utility Kevin Minaker “We just weren’t running hard or winning any individual contests, it was like they were playing us how we wanted to play them.” Eagles coach Aaron Falcioni totally agreed “The boys really struggled getting into the game, I felt we struggled to play our new style of footy”
The third quarter saw both teams battling hard to take control of the match. Eagles Troy Marsh and Vaughn Jazyk both picked up a gear in the midfield, while Tasos Dimacakos was strong at the back with solid contributions from Chris Grey and Curtis Gallant.
The Blues also had some solid contributors in midfielders, Daniel Anderson and Kien La shared plenty of the ball throughout the match yet neither could really capitalise with the possession.
The final quarter saw the Eagles start to assert their experience on a tiring Blues side. The Eagles applied plenty of attacking pressure on the Blues backline, yet were unable to finish them off until late into the quarter when Ajit Alister kick the winning goal after having a dreadful day at the office.
Some positives though, the return of Troy Marsh had a positive effect on the Eagles side with some excellent displays of footy. Also full forward Matt Bachinski continued with his good form this season kicking four goals.
Next weekend the Eagles head down to "The Royal City" for a Sunday afternoon match versus the Guelph Gargoyles.
TORONTO EAGLES 2.3 4.4 6.6 8.11 (59)
CENTRAL BLUES 3.0 3.1 5.4 7.4 (46)
GOALS
Bachinski 4, Marsh 2, Alister, Garth
BEST
Marsh, Dimacakos, Bachinski, Jazyk
INJURIES
Nil
Reports: Nil
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
