Jason Teakle
BRANT NEWS

The Brantford Galaxy nearly staved off a loss to the leading team in the Canadian Soccer League on Sunday night.

The Galaxy played solid defence during the first half but withered in the second, leading to a  2-0 loss to Toronto-Croatia at Lions Park.

Brantford head coach Tomo Dancetovic said, despite the defeat, his team played well against the CSL’s best squad.

“This is the top team in the league,” Dancetovic said. “It wasn’t a bad performance. With a little more luck, we could have had the tie.”

Dancetovic said the Galaxy are still hanging onto hope of making the playoffs this season.

“I’m still confident,” Dancetovic said. “I know everybody is saying, ‘the Brantford Galaxy are going down,’ but we have three games left at home. If we win all three, we can make the playoffs…I think we can do it.”

The Galaxy are currently in 10th place in the CSL with 25 points.

The first half of Sunday’s game ended scoreless, with Brantford defending well against several attacks by Toronto-Croatia.

But with about 23 minutes left in the game, Toronto-Croatia’s Boris Tomac found the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Galaxy fought back and had two quality scoring chances during the final minutes of play.

Galaxy midfielder Damion Scott nearly tied the game with nine minutes remaining, but shot wide of the net.

Marco Machado came close to evening the score with three minutes left in the game, but also sent the ball wide of the goal.

Toronto-Croatia’s Josip Bonacin scored with about two minutes left in the game, giving his team a 2-0 lead.

Sunday’s loss marks the Galaxy’s third defeat in a row, after losing 6-1 to SC Toronto on Friday and 7-0 to the Windsor Stars on Aug. 25.

The Galaxy will play the Serbian White Eagles at Lions Park on Sept. 16 beginning at 6 p.m.