BWP's early hat-trick destroys Toronto, 3:0
May 28, 2016
Coming off last week's fantastic demolition of the blue poseurs, it was hard to expect a performance of similar quality. And yet, Metro continued to deliver, riding a first-half Bradley Wright-Phillips hat-trick to easily beat Toronto, 3:0. Metro played the entire second half down a man after Gonzalo Veron was sent off.
The injuries to Lloyd Sam and Chris Duvall meant that Veron and Ronald Zubar stepped in. Somehow, Zubar was pretty much not noticeable the whole match, which, for him, is a good thing.
Who was noticeable is BWP. Just four minutes in, a perfect Sacha Kljestan free kick found the striker's bald head to open the scoring. Then, in the 25th, it was Kljestan again, finding BWP in the box. The Englishman sent the ball through the defender's feet, beating the Toronto keeper to the short side.
Two minutes later, the game was all but over. This time, Felipe swung it over to Mike Grella, who miss-hit it. Fortunately, it ended up looking like a perfect pass, as BWP converted from the middle of the box.
Veron's deserving red card came for a needless two-footed tackle in midfield, two minutes before the half. Toronto could have gotten one back early in the second, when a bad Grella backpass led to a Connor Lade foul in the box. Will Johnson converted the penalty kick, but our old "friend" encroachment reared its ugly head, so Toronto was forced to re-take it. Johnson went the other way, Luis Robles guessed correctly, and kept the ball out with a fantastic fingertip save.
From that point on, the only mystery was whether Metro would get a shutout, but Toronto kept misfiring. Gideon Baah did end up clearing a ball off the line after a brave Robles save. Late in the game, it looked like Metro got its fourth. Sadly, Brandon Allen, who made his debut minutes earlier, was called offside.
So, Metro goes into the break with a three-game winning and shutout streaks. The offense is clicking, and the acquisition of Aurelien Collin looks to have fortified the defense. If only Ali Curtis pulled the trigger on that trade earlier...
Lineup: Robles, Lade, Collin, Zubar, Zizzo, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Grella, Veron, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Baah, Davis, Allen.
|
