Two goals from rookie Darren Mattocks wasn't enough as Toronto FC claimed a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps Wednesday night at BMO Field.
A Darren Mattocks brace wasn’t enough as the Vancouver Whitecaps fell to Toronto FC 3-2 on the road Wednesday evening at BMO Field through an injury time winner from ex-Whitecap Terry Dunfield.Things looked promising after the Jamaican rookie popped home the opener five minutes into the second half, before Toronto responded quickly through goals from Luis Silva and Torsten Frings two minutes either side of 70.
“I’m obviously very disappointed to lose,” head coach Martin Rennie told reporters following the match. “It’s hard to lose any game and thankfully we haven’t lost too many this season, so it always hurts when you do lose. But to lose it so late in the game after equalizing so late in the game is frustrating and something that we’re not happy about.”
After initially leading, the Toronto FC double left a bit of a sour taste for the Whitecaps as Lee Young-Pyo lay on the pitch for Silva’s goal before Frings scored with the South Korean defender off the field.
“We had a spell there where Y.P. Lee was injured and was off the field for five to seven minutes and by the time he was back on we were 2-1 down,” Rennie said. “That was very disappointing. That was a major turning point because we were winning and fairly comfortable so to come out of that losing three goals is one that leaves me scratching my head a little bit.”
Despite the loss, the team can take heart from the performance of Mattocks, who scored two well-taken goals, including his stoppage time second which looked as if it was about to salvage a 2-2 draw for Vancouver before Dunfield’s even later winner.
On that play, the 21-year-old got up with an incredible leap to eclipse goalkeeper Milos Kocic and head home the 2-2 goal.
“I kind of feel bad for Milos,” Joe Cannon told TEAM 1410 after the match of Mattocks second goal. “I could definitely see myself doing the same thing. Ninety-first minute, high cross, you're coming – you don’t expect some guy to jump out of the air. I’ve had it happen to me once or twice in my career. Definitely not a fun feeling when you go up grasping for air. Credit to Darren. He played such a great game for us tonight and finished his chances when we needed him to.
“As a senior pro, it’s even more gut wrenching to see a rookie come out and do the things he does and for us to not live up to the other end of the bargain.”
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