The Rogers Centre in Toronto played host to two of the world’s most famous football clubs on Friday night but it could be argued that the most important professional soccer match occurring in the province of Ontario that evening was taking place at Bishop Reding Field in Milton.

Milltown FC and FC Hamilton Croatia, two of the three new entries in the Canadian Soccer League for the 2010 season, took to the pitch in Milton on Friday tied for 3rd place in the league standings.  Milltown came into the match full of confidence thanks to their seven game undefeated streak while the club from Hamilton entered this game riding a three game winning streak of their own, during which time they had outscored their opponents by a combined 14-2.

Milltown FC`s starting lineup featured two new faces for this match.  The International Transfer window opened on July 15, allowing MFC`s Head Coach and Director of Soccer Operations, Rafael Carbajal, to add Bahamian national team striker Lesley St. Fleur to the team`s roster.  St. Fleur signed with the club earlier in the week, following a weeklong trial where he impressed the coaching staff with his potent combination of blazing speed and outstanding skillfulness.  Coach Carbajal also inked Brian Alcantara, a 21 year old midfielder from the Toronto area, and inserted him directly into the starting lineup in place of the injured Jason Morgan.

The near capacity crowd was treated to an exciting start to this match.  Just two minutes into the first half, Irishman Aidan O`Keefe, Hamilton`s leading scorer, executed a perfect chip shot from about 20 yards out that just eluded the finger tips of Milltown`s goalkeeper Scott Cliff to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.  It was O`Keefe`s 8th goal of the season.

The young squad from Milton did not hang their heads and, just five minutes later, they were able to even the score at 1-1.  MFC midfielder Martijn Kuijpers slid a lovely through ball up the middle that Agustin DeMedina was able to reach just ahead of the onrushing Hamilton keeper, Cameron McKay.  DeMedina's delicate toe-poke directed the ball just past Mckay's outstretched arms and into the back of the net, to the delight of the home crowd.

After those two early goals, the remaining 38 minutes featured fairly even possession of the ball but not a lot of great scoring opportunities as the Milltown and Hamilton defenders did a good job of keeping most of those chances to the outside.

MFC has had a habit of coming out very strong in the 2nd half and this game would be no different.  Milltown came out of the locker room flying, winning most of the midfield battles and creating some good counter attack opportunities.  In the 60th minute, Coach Carbajal opted to bring Cordell Benjamin into the game in place of Erick Olazabal and moved Lesley St. Fleur out to the left and it didn`t take very long for this decision to bear fruit as, just 10 minutes later, St. Fleur whipped in a low, hard cross into the Hamilton box that Benjamin's got his right foot onto and deposited into the roof of the net, past McKay, giving Milltown FC a deserved 2-1 lead.

Now trailing for the first time in the match, Hamilton applied quite a bit of pressure on Milltown, trying to find an equalizer, but a combination of strong defending and excellent goalkeeping kept the visitors at bay.  When the final whistle was blown, the Milton fans showed their appreciation and, as has become custom, they gathered at the exit of Bishop Reding Field and showered their team with applause as the players headed for the showers.

"I am very proud of the way the team played tonight," said Coach Carbajal.  "Hamilton Croatia is a very talented and experienced team but we proved that we have a lot of quality in our team as well.  We showed a lot of character after giving up the early goal. Agustin's goal was important because it settled us down and, after we tied the game, we kept our focus for the rest of the match and came out with a very important result."

The victory gives Milltown FC 22 points from 12 games, extends their undefeated streak to 8 games and propels the five month old club into sole possession of 2nd place in the CSL table.

Milltown completes its long home stand next Friday night (July 23rd) when they take on North York Astros at Bishop Reding Field.  Game time is 8pm.

Milltown FC v FC Hamilton Croatia (July 16, 2010)

Scoring Summary:
2nd minute – FC Hamilton Croatia goal scored by #14 Aidan O'Keefe
7th minute – Milltown FC goal scored by #7 Agustin DeMedina (assisted by #10 Martijn Kuijpers)
70th minute – Milltown FC goal scored by #16 Cordell Benjamin (assisted by #9 Lesley St. Fleur)

Milltown FC Starting Lineup:
Scott Cliff (c), Eric Batchanou, Thierry Mangwa-Batomen, Ben Ragan, Tristan Scott, Chris Suta, Brian Alcantara, Martijn Kuijpers,  Agustin De Medina, Lesley St. Fleur, Erick Olazabal

Milltown FC Substitutes:
Daniel Mendez, Chad Fernandez, Elvis Xhameni, Thomas Santibanez, Cordell Benjamin, Gersi Xhuti, Eros Olazabal

Milltown FC Substitution Summary:
60th Minute –Erick Olazabal out, Benjamin in

Milltown FC Disciplinary Summary:
Chris Suta (Yellow Card)

FC Hamilton Croatia Starting Lineup:
Cameron Mckay, Rhian Dodds, Alvin Hudson, Nikolas Jelicic, Danny Jirta, Aidan O'Keefe, Ivan Razumovic, Adam Leggett, Jaime Dodds, Jason Shannon, Antonio Zupan,

FC Hamilton Croatia Substitutes:
Boris Vudelja, Preston Corporal, Tom Bilic, Daniel Niksic, Andrew Leggett,  Pavel Kopolev

FC Hamilton Croatia Substitution Summary:
54th Minute – Shannon out, Corporal in
57th Minute – Jelicic out, Bilic in
70th Minute – Adam Leggett out, Niksic in
78th Minute – Jirta out, Andrew Leggett in

FC Hamilton Croatia Disciplinary Summary
Jason Shannon (Yellow Card)
Nikolas Jelicic (Yellow Card)
Jamie Dodds (Yellow Card)
Cameron McKay (Yellow Card)
Ivan Razumovic (Red Card)
Aidan O'Keefe (Yellow Card)