Aug 19 Impact In A Playoff Spot As They Dominate At Home Defeating Atlanta 3-1

Although the Montreal Impact had recently won back to back games last week, they couldn't  make it 3 in a row against the Portland Timbers when they fell to their western rivals 2-1. This evening, in front of a sold out crowd, they had a perfect opportunity to forget that loss, as a win against the visiting Atlanta Silverbacks would see them in 7th place in the USL division 1 standings and in playoff contention. On this night, the Impact would not dissapoint as they matched up and overwhelmed the Silverbacks by a score of 3-1

Going into tonight's game, the fans would be treated to a classic battle between the best offensive team (Atlanta) versus the best defensive team (Impact) however it was the latter who showed their offensive prowess from the first touch, taking a lead into the 1st half, 2-0.

The first chance of the game would come to the Impact, when at the 8  minute mark, Joey Gjertsen deked an Atlanta defender and then promptly passed the ball off to Tony Donatelli who, in  retrospect, should have shot as he was close in, but opted for a third pass which sent his team-mate just offside. 3 minutes later, during an Atlanta corner kick, 'keeper Matt Jordan jumped up to punch the ball out of harms way, however it ended up on the boot of Silverback midfielder Jason McLaughlin and Jordan instinctively dove across the bottom of the goal line, robbing Atlanta of a sure goal.

After what seemed like a first 20 minutes of both teams not wanting to give up any chances to the other, the game's tempo really picked up after the 20th minute. At the 25th, another Impact chance saw a beautiful give and go between Mauro Biello, making a long awaited hometown start, and Roberto Brown, resulting in Brown heading the ball just over the crossbar. Less than a minute later, Biello had another chance as he took a spinning kick towards Atlanta 'keeper Felipe Quintero but his kick was just over the crossbar as well. Yet a minute later, Joey Gjertsen managed to carry the ball deep inside the penalty area and took a wicked shot that unfortunately caromed off a Silverback defender wide of the net.

They say to put the ball to the net and good things will happen. That's exactly what happened in the 30th minute when Impact captain Biello who was playing like a man who wanted to prove he was back from his injuries, turned and kicked a pass from Tony Donatelli deep into the Atlanta net. With his first goal of the season,Mauro Biello had proved that he was, in fact back. Atlanta, the team with the most goals for record in the USL, seemed to not have an answer for the Impact as not much was mounted in the way of a comeback, but at the 42nd minute, off a Joey Gjertsen corner kick, the ball found its way through a crowd, bounced off a few players and was found by Tony Donatelli who scored his 3rd of the season as an Impact player.

The Impact ended the 1st half with a 2-0 lead, hoping to come back in the second and increase their unbeaten when leading streak  to 5-0.

The Second half was everything one expected and more as the Silverbacks played a much more open game in the hopes of catching up. The game was very back and forth with both sides getting their fair share of chances with both 'keepers keeping them in the game. From the 62nd minute, the Silverbacks found new life and were literally having their way with the ball deep inside the Impact penalty area, and Montreal defender Stefano Pesoli kicked a sure scoring chance out of harms way when it seemed to have beaten Matt Jordan, but in the ensuing corner kick, the Silverbacks were very aggressive on the ball which eventually led to a Atlanta goal by Tony Mcmanus who took a pass from pinching defender Martyn Lancaster and put the ball easily past Jordan.

Not to let the home town crowd of 13,034 sit too nervously for too long, the Impact took advantage of the wide open play of Atlanta and from centre, Joey Gjertsen, with one Atlanta defender back, found Roberto Brown, back in action after serving a 3 game suspension, open as he streaked down the field. He chipped the ball past the Atlanta defender and beat 'keeper Quintero cleanly restoring the Impact's 2 goal lead. From this point on, all hope was lost for Atlanta who were playing with reckless abandon resulting with many more Impact opportunities, including a hit goalpost in close in the dying seconds of extra time.

With this win, the Impact, who are presently in 7th place and in a playoff spot for the first time this season, have collectively extended their record of domination over the Silverbacks at home to  7 games unbeaten as well as extending their record to 5-0-0 when leading at the half.

The Impact will meet this same Silverback team this coming Sunday at 7:30PM,  but not before Atlanta travels to Rochester the day before to face the Rhinos.

Game Notes:

- Tony Donatelli, with a goal and an assist was named player of the game.

- The Impact were without the services of Adam Braz (thigh), Gabriel Gervais (thigh) and Rocco Placentino (knee)

- Jefferson Severino was also out of the line-up as he served a game suspension after having received 5 cautions.

- Making their Montreal débuts were Sandro Grande and Félix Brillant. Grande, who started the match and although held of the scoreboard, was a key player at both ends of the pitch. Brillant came on later in the game replacing Mauro biello at the 56th minute.

- Matt Jordan was back in net after giving Andrew Weber some time inside the box against Portland.

- Patrick Leduc participated in his 200th game as an Impact player.

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