Arsene Oka and Stephanos Hondrakis' first goal for Central Park Whites alongside an exquisite run by Akeem Brooks granted the club their first victory of the season against struggling Polonia NY.
3 vs 1
S. Hondrakis 16', A. Oka 39' J. Grzegorzewski 45+
A. Brooks 53'
Central Park Rangers Whites broke a 12 game non-winning run as they defeated Polonia NY 3-1 Saturday night at Randall's Island.
College player Stephanos Hondrakis gave CPR the lead with a clinical finish, before Arsene Oka juked the opposing keeper to double the Whites' lead.
Jakub Grzegorzewski headed down a free kick to cut Eli Vosha's side's lead in half, but CPR reinforced their two-goal advantage in the second half with a swift run by Akeem Brooks, followed by a smart finish.
Polonia remain in ninth place after the loss, extending to a four game losing streak. Meanwhile, CPR jump out of last place to tenth.
Central Park managed to pull out the victory with a couple of players playing out of position, Carson Pryer and Kwesi Mills-Odoi.
"I thought two players really stood out," player-coach Eli Vosha said after the game. "Carson Pryer who played in midfield, he really stood out, that was not his natural position, he's a striker. And our captain, Kwesi Mills-Odoi, who played at center back, he did a really good job out of position."
The only downside of CPR's first win was losing central midfielder Byasa Bah to a thigh injury, according to Vosha.
Polonia looked as if they were on their way to an easy victory in the opening minutes of the games as they took four shots inside the first five minutes, signed by Konrad Steliga and Lukasz Bielen.
Besides the away team's early dominance, Central Park were the fist on target shortly after the quarter hour mark. Bah played a ball over the top to Hondrakis, who dribbled past the Polonians' open defense before shooting the ball past the keeper.
"We know from the beginning that they were pushing up high," the goalscorer said about his goal. "So I expected to beat them on that trap and have enough space for me to run on one-on-one with the goalie and score."
CPR added to their lead despite more Polonia dominance. Hondrakis sent a cross from the right flank to Oka, who shot the ball out of the keeper's reach after magnificently faking him twice in the 39th minute.
"The center back missed the ball, so instead of taking a shot I took my time to find a better position to score because I didn't want to rush and miss it, and I took a shot, it went in," the striker said.
Polonia was rewarded a freekick seven minutes later, after Damian Bziukiewicz was brought down in the left wing. Grzegorzewski headed Bielen's freekick past keeper Shane Reid.
Anton Camaj's men didn't show much sign that they would equalize, although it was the Whites who increased their lead eight minutes into the second half.
Polonia's right back failed to intercept Mills-Odoi's pass as the ball broke free off his boots for Brooks to dribble through the defense and hit the ball beyond the away keeper.
Coach Vosha is satisfied with the first win but admits that it's too late into the season to turn things around.
"The effort was good, that's all we can ask for," Vosha said. He later added: "It's too late in the season to have a real effect. I think we will play a little better in the last two games but it's too late into the season to make any difference so we're just trying to compete for the rest of the season, enjoy and have fun but it's too late."
Statistics
Central Park Rangers Whites:
11 (7) shots
4 corners
9 fouls committed
2 yellow cards
0 red card
1 offside
Polonia NY:
20 (7) shots
7 corners
11 fouls committed
0 yellow card
0 red card
3 offsides
No comments:
Post a Comment