First Grade
Magic traveled to Toronto looking for their first win of the season after a lack luster performance against Weston last week. The team was relaxed and confident when we took to the park and it was Magic who had the better of the play in the early stages of the game.
Good movement off the ball saw Tony Maj released down the left side with one defender to beat. With some tricky footwork Tony worked himself into a goal scoring opportunity and was unlucky to see his strike come off the upright. John Bennis had a second chance which saw the Toronto keeper make a desperate save. Not long after Tony again had a great chance to put us ahead but for some excellent keeping again by the advancing Toronto keeper. It wasn’t long after that Toronto was awarded a free kick from 25 meters out. A superb strike saw the ball rocket into our net and we were 1 down.
Magic seemed to lose their momentum after this goal and a rejuvenated Toronto chased hard with increasing confidence. Half time Toronto 1 Magic 0.
The second half saw the game settle into a real battle for possession with Magic having plenty of the ball and creating more chances than Toronto who resorted to a more counter attacking style of play. Magic were robbed of the ball in their defensive third and former Magic striker Rick Metcalfe made no mistake with a punishing finish giving Toronto a 2-0 lead.
The lads had to dig deep to stay in the game and we scored a class goal that was disallowed as the ref had already blow his whistle for a foul on Peter Haynes when clearly the game should have been allowed to continue. This drove another nail into the coffin but an inspired Josh Piddington did what we have been failing to do, attack the ball in the box, and scored a cracking header to give the Magic boys some hope. 2-1. The Magic lifted a notch and had Toronto on the back foot from here. Toronto had a great chance to go further ahead with another freekick just outside the Magic box. The strike hit the bar and cannoned down only to head back into the field of play rather than the back of the net. Another Magic corner saw Piddo once again pushed forward into the box. His fearless attack at the ball resulted in another Piddo header finding the back of the Toronto net for his second of the day 2-2.
Toronto had to soak up lots of pressure from here on but Magic ran out of time to get the result they wanted. Coach Smith could walk away from this game knowing that the young guns in this strong side showed plenty of nerve and footballing ability today by grinding out a draw, when all looked lost. It just goes to show, the game is not over until the final whistle and our lads will take away a stronger understanding of this after today’s game. Well done Magic!