Toronto FC II have a long history with dead rubbers. It would take a pretty determined effort from Martyn Bailey to compute how many of the 128 USL games they played through 2018 were essentially meaningless, but bet the mortgage on it being well into double figures.

Just the three this year, and as if liberated by their playoff elimination, the Young Reds went and produced their best run of results since early June. The opposition certainly helped: having faced the ironclad defence of Greenville Triumph in three of their last seven games prior to September 27th, Tormenta FC looked like sitting ducks by comparison.

It helped that the the Fighting Ibises were on a ten-game winless run when they landed at Pearson. They also needed to win to keep their playoff challenge alive (that sounds familiar). Without Charlie Dennis, the architect of their comeback win over TFC II in May, the final score rather flattered the visitors in the end.

It may surprise to learn Franco Ramos Mingo’s winning goal came off a set-piece.

The following Wednesday, the kids made their own little piece of history down in Virginia, beating the Richmond Kickers on home soil for the first time ever. The hosts put up something of a fight, or at least their Africans trio did.

After Zambian winger Mutaya Mwape sliced an unsavable shot past Eric Klenofsky, the kids reprised their Goonies routine one last time with a brace from Jordan Perruzza. No set-pieces required.

The season-ending visit to Chattanooga almost had all the makings of a grudge match. Just as the Red Wolves effectively ended TFC II’s playoff chase with a late equalizer on September, the Young Reds almost had the opportunity to return the favour.

However, those pesky flamingos from Madison killed off that storyline by claiming the last play-off berth for themselves hours before kick-off.

Quest for the Golden Boot

Going into these games, Jordan Perruzza still had an outside chance of yoinking the shiny shoe from under Ronaldo Damus’s nose. Not likely, but given North Texas had the good grace to sit their Haitian sensation for their last two games, not impossible. JP just had to find five goals.

The Tormenta win proved to be a false start for him. It almost started perfectly, when he headed in off a Jayden Nelson corner kick. However, that was cancelled out for the minor detail that he’d used Michael Mecham as a vaulting horse.

Weirdly, Richmond proved to a happier hunting ground. The premium banter he engaged in with the Red Army after netting his second also spoke very well of his attitude. The “show some class” lobby may disagree, but any good striker should have the capacity to be a bit of a cheeky git.

That brace left him needing a hat-trick against Chattanooga to overtake Damus, or a brace plus two assists to beat Le Petit Grenadier on tiebreakers. Sadly, the lad just couldn’t catch a break.

He barely sniffed the ball in the first half, and later, when the Red Wolves’ keeper initially fumbled a shot from JP, he somehow managed to recover the ball before it crossed the line.

His eventual 87th-minute equalizer, courtesy of an Ayo Akinola pass, ultimately saw him finish one goal behind Damus in the golden boot standings. Not ideal, but still historic: his haul of fifteen goals ties him with Jayhams and Shaan Hundal as TFC II’s all-time leading scorer.



A Noble Effort

To be honest, for most of this year, I’ve had a hard time buying what a lot of people were selling about young Noble Okello. When he wasn’t colliding with referees or picking up petty bookings, he was either running from box-to-box like a madman or failing to be the aerial threat you might imagine a lad of his stature would be.

That said, after watching him in these three games, I’m halfway down the road to Damascus. Rather poetically, his first professional goal almost came off a header, when he jumped to nod home a Shaffelburg cross and took a goalkeeper to the face instead. Thankfully, he avoided his first professional concussion in the process.

Fast forward to Richmond and he took on the role of rainmaker. That is, he made it rain crosses and pinpoint passes that could’ve seen him walk away with anything up to five assists. As things were, he had to make do with the one. All the same, if he can carry that form over into next year, I smell a breakout season.



Not Dunn Yet

Possibly miffed at not getting a third goal in as many games, Franco Ramos Mingo ended his season the way he started it: getting sent off. Mercifully, this time he had the good grace to wait until the 93rd minute.

His suspension cleared the way for the long-absent Julian Dunn to get one last run. Still maligned in some sectors for being pantsed by Houston Dynamo in 2018, the first half in Chattanooga was a bittersweet reminder of what TFC II have missed without him since summer.

He single-handedly stopped the Red Wolves doubling their lead in the 26th minute, forcing his man to strike the ball underneath him with such power, it rolled harmlessly off Klenofsky’s far post. He also came closer than Perruzza to scoring in the first half, heading a corner just over the bar.

Less pleasingly, he limped back to his own half afterwards and had to be replaced by Rocco Romeo after the break. Get well soon, young man.

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Gwyn Richards An Englishman with no worldly connection to Canada. Descended from a long line of Queens Park Rangers fans but whose own interest in European football was killed by Florentino Pérez's credit card. Was indoctrinated into Toronto FC fandom at the hands of some irresponsible podcasters. "Professional football is philanthropy on a grand scale." -David Dome, New Zealand soccer executive

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