BRAMPTON HITMEN BLANK NORTH YORK ASTROS 2-0 AT THE SOCCER CENTRE
Missed early opportunities proved costly for North York Astros in their season opener at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan where the Astros went down, 2-0, to Brampton Hitmen in the only game played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League Tuesday.
It was the first league game on the new FIFA-approved FieldTurf for both clubs and players of both teams gave the new surface a generally positive, but mixed reviews.
Defender Peter Zorbas could have made more use of an early opportunity for North York Astros, but a more obvious chance to put the home side ahead came from Alen Majstorovic who had the entire net to shoot at on the 40th minute mark only to put the ball wide of the post with Brampton �keeper Roy Blanche well beaten.
Just a minute later, Brampton captain Phil Ionadi struck from 30 yards to put the visitors ahead for a 1-0 half time score and three minutes after the interval Ivan Jurisic made it 2-0.
Astros� veteran Trinidadian defender Kurt Ramsey praised the FieldTurf surface with some reservations about the full sliding tackle when dry, while some players from the bench including Astros�forward Alex Braletic considered the surface excellent.
As a result of the victory, the Hitmen now lead the Western Conference with a 2-0-1 WLT record for seven points.
