The Toronto FC Reserve squad moved above the .500 mark once again after defeating the New England Revolution Reserves 2-1 on a very wet and rainy day in Toronto. The match was rescheduled after these two teams had postponed their original date of August 24.
The first chance of the match went to the hosts in the 19th minute after Johann Smith squared a pass to Abdus "Ibee" Ibrahim whose one time shot was saved by Revs keeper Brad Knighton. The visitors responded with a chance of their own just three minutes later as Ameachi Igwe's powerful rising strike just flew over top of the goal. The first half ended with heavy rain, very little in scoring opportunities and zero's on the scoreboard.
With the rain in check for the second half, TFC started brightly and opened the scoring in the 50th minute. Speedy winger Johann Smith sent in a cross from the left side and guest player Daniel Nascimento was at the far post to head it in past a diving Sergio Saccoccio to make it a 1-0 lead for Toronto. The game took an unfortunate turn for Toronto in the 59th when keeper Brian Edwards was awarded a straight red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity to the Revs Wells Thompson. With Edwards sent off, David Monsalve entered the match and proceeded to stop Thompson on his penalty shot. However, Thompson would get another chance to level the score when officials ruled he should re-take the penalty. For the second time Thompson stepped up and this time he beat Monsalve to draw them even at a goal a piece. Toronto midfielder Derek Gaudet would be the odd man out as he had to come out of the game for Edwards as TFC was reduced to 10 men for the remainder.
Nineteen minutes from time, Toronto would take the lead for good after Tyler Rosenlund played a great ball right side to Jarrod Smith, with space the New Zealand international hit an angled shot that got a little bit of help from the post and crossed the line to secure Toronto's 2-1 victory.
With the win, Toronto's Reserve team record improves to 5-4-0 good for 15 points while New England sees their record drop to 2-6-2, for eight points. Toronto's next Reserve match will be this Sunday in New York when they face the Red Bulls Reserve squad at Montclair State University at 10am ET.
Toronto FC (5-4-0) Brian Edwards (David Monsalve 59) Gabe Gala (Derek Gaudet 46), Marco Velez, Marko Bedenikovic, Nana Attakora-Gyan, Daniel Nascimento, Joey Melo, Jarrod Smith, Johann Smith, Tyler Rosenlund, Abdus Ibrahim
Subs not used: - none
New England Revolution (2-6-2) Brad Knighton (Sergio Saccoccio 46), Chris Tierney, Sam Brill (Don MacGregor 74), Rob Valentino, Ameachi Igwe, Wells Thompson, Gary Flood, Brendan Tyler, Peter Anderson, Branden Monzonelli (Nicholas Tornaritis 66), Joe Germenese
Subs not used: - none
Scoring Summary:
TFC: Daniel Nascimento (Johann Smith) 50'
NE: Wells Thompson (penalty) 62'
TFC: Jarrod Smith (Tyler Rosenlund) 71'
Referee: Steven Depiero
Assistants: Mike Lambert, Amato DeLuca
Fourth Official: Carol Anne Chenard
Misconduct Summary:
TFC: Brian Edwards (red card) 59'
NE: Ameachi Igwe (yellow card) 78'
