THE SOUTH STAND REPORT : Toronto v DC... or Who needs a dome or a roof?

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  The first home game of the season.  Isn't she lovely?  Isn't she grand?

Historically this is the best time of the year for our beloved Robins... it's usually mostly a new side, nothing to have been yelling about yet and mathematically we're still in the hunt for a play-off spot.

Except we're actually undefeated.  With a win.  On the road.  In Seattle. #shortSentencesForDramaticEffect

D.C. is still in rebuild mode. The last time we saw them, Toronto thumped the hell out of their "C" team, as they were resting their main squad for their Open Cup tie, which paid dividends as they won it and qualified for Europe, I mean Champions League, I mean CONCACAF Champions League (which is too long), I mean Concubine League.  Well done to them.

And those of you that don't know, we've had a massive signing spree in the off season, securing the likes of Jackson, Morrow and Konopka! One cannot help but see and feel great things for the mighty Robins in Season Eight!

On to the match!

35' - Bradley springs Rey from the trap on the left side of the box, but fires the ball way over the bar without being under pressure.

42' - Jackson fires in a low cross that finds Defoe, one touch on it and Hamid gets a little on it, but the post gets the rest.  Tragic.  Pretty.

Half-Time Mood : Optimistic.  Plenty of chances.  Really relying on the counter and are quickly adapting to the offside trap.

50' - YELLOW - Jackson got into a shoving match with a D.C. player, who then fell to the ground like he had been shot.

59' - GOAL - massive through ball to Gilberto, gets a shot off but is blocked, rebound magnetically finds its way to Defoe, pops it into the open goal as Hamid was off his line, and the villagers rejoice.

ROBINS 1, DIVIDED 0

63' - SUB - Gilberto makes way for the prodigal son, Dwayne DeRosario

65' - Bradley and Arnaud have an ugly collision where Arnaud stayed down and Bradley was busted open the hard way on the back of his head.  Arnaud would not return and Bradley looked more like a supervillian.

75' - Defoe finds DeRo through to goal and though he had 3 good uninterfered touches, the defender caught up to him and tackled away the shot.

83' - SUB - Orr comes on for Rey

3 minute of extra time

Full Time : TORONTO 1, D.C 0 b Let's just retire undefeated and remember this season as a great one! No? Fine, ruin a good thing, why don'tcha...

Man of the Match : Gonna have to give this one to Bradley.  He was everywhere on the pitch and came back from a collision. 

Goat of the Game : No one was bad enough, but seeing DeRo running so slowly alarmed the hell out of me where I was starting to think he was a liability

Ref Rating : 4 out of 5

Kit Spotting :  it was too damn cold, but as much as we saw an Aberdeen scarf, I think the Ternana Calcio toque

I Am Not The Gaffer But : nothing to say really.  Getting used to the counter-attack style of football and that's where most of my concerns would come from.

It was nice to be at a cold weather game and be actually dressed for it... Henry had a bit of a howler early in the match, but then followed it up with some excellent clutch tackles.  Very impressive... Morrow seems to be shaping up to be a shrewd bit of business too.  He was running the left side of the pitch without any cause for concern... We need to come up with a song for Defoe that doesn't involve repeating his name over and over again.  We did inadvertently come up with a Jackson one entitled "Man in the Middle".  Look for the single to drop soon!... To the idiot who ran onto the field with Defoe on a break.  If he had scored and the ref called it back, I would hope you remain in police custody for your own protection.

Player Ratings : Julio Cesar 6.5, Bloom 6, Henry 6.5, Caldwell 7, Morrow 7, Jackson 6.5, Bradley 7.5, Osorio 6.5, Rey 6.5 [Orr N/A], Defoe 7, Gilberto 7 [DeRo 6]