London City handed unbeaten Toronto Supra a serious set-back in their fight for Eastern Conference title honours at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Thursday night when the visitors struck in the dying minutes to tie the score 2-2.
Supra needed all three points to keep pace with leading Ottawa Wizards and a 2-1 result was all but assured until London midfielder Gentian Dervishi drove the ball past Supra 'keeper Michael Silva at the 89th minute mark
While it is a tight race at the top of the eastern standings, a 1-0 victory for Hamilton in the only game played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League Wednesday night gave the Thunder a commanding lead at the top of the Western Conference standings and put St. Catharines Wolves in a precarious position in their late-season bid for third place and the playoffs.
London had taken a 1-0 lead at 15 minutes on a goal by Gentjan Buzali and the lead held until five minutes from the interval when Supra's Danny Amaral made it 1-1.
Supra took a 2-1 lead seven minutes after the break and Dervishi scored the tying goal with a well placed strike to deprive the Toronto team of full points.
Supra trails Ottawa Wizards by just one point with a 9-0-6 WLT record for 33 points, but the Wizards with 34 points now have one game in hand.
London City improve to 3-10-3 for 12 points in the Western Conference.
Hamilton Thunder (9-2-4 WLT for 31 points) leap to what looks like an insurmountable 7-point lead over second place Brampton Hitmen (7-4-3 for 24 points), while St. Catharines Wolves are in third with a 7-7-2 record at 23 points.
Toronto Croatia are just four points behind St. Catharines, but they have two games in hand.
So, while the season closes in on playoff time, it looks like it�s the third place positions that are going to be in doubt and up for grabs until the regular season league games are completed at the end of September.
