The third chapter of the Umbro Cup was opened Wednesday afternoon in Waterloo at University Stadium as K-W United FC took on highway 401 rivals Forest City London.

The home side United ran out 3-0 winners in the first leg in impressive fashion, rebounding from a 3-1 defeat from the first meeting between the two sides earlier in the season.

Led by a two-goal performance from right-back-turned-right-winger Oyvind Alseth, United improved to 5-2-0 on the season while the Londoner's fell to 5-2-1.

Alseth opened the scoring in the 20th minute when he was put in one-on-one with London goalkeeper Mark Haynes on a nice through ball from midfielder Dylan Sacramento to make it 1-0 for the home team.

The Black and Blue nearly stretched their advantage to two goals in the 35th minute. Forward Jarek Whiteman found himself in acres of space at the back post off a free kick, but was unable to convert the chance.

The intensity began to pick up pace at the mid-way point of the first half when London midfielder Ben Fitzpatrick was yellow carded for a late challenge on United goalkeeper Nathan Ingham.

K-W forward Ben Polk nearly added to his team leading six goals in the 39th minute when the Englishman made a nice turn to lose his defender and fired it on shot, forcing Haynes into one of his several saves he had to make on the night to keep his side in it.

Polk was named PDL Player of the Week the past week for his five goals-two games effort against division rivals Derby City Rovers and Dayton Dutch Lions.

Ingham himself was forced into a big save in the dying minutes of the half when the ball deflected off his player and ricocheted back towards the net.

United looked to have gone up 2-0 when defender Zach Ellis-Hayden finished off a free kick just four minutes into the second half.The play would be called back for offside, however, and the deficit remained at one.

London, sitting in second place in the Great Lakes Division, would up the pressure in the opening minutes of the half, looking to equalize and preserve their positive start to the season.

Whiteman made it 2-0 in the 64th minute when he redirected an Alseth corner kick into the net. The goal took the forwards tally to three for the season.

Down a pair, London head coach Martin Painter's subbed on attacking reinforcements and one of the players, Allando Matheson made his impact felt almost immediately. The ball fell to the forwards feet after a scramble in the United box; his shot beat Ingham but not Ellis-Hayden who covered his keeper and cleared the ball off the line.

With London pushing numbers forward and desperately looking for a goal to get them back in the game, United struck for a third time. Polk sent Alseth in on a partial break; with a defender catching up to him, the Norwegian squared up his opponent, faked a shot, and slotted it into the far post past a sprawling Haynes to make it a 3-0 game.

Jarek Whiteman was named Man of the Match for his one goal performance.

London were the first Umbro Cup champions in 2013, and K-W took it the following year. The Black and Blue will be confident of their chances of keeping the cup heading into the second game with a comfortable lead.

The second leg of the cup is set for Saturday evening at 7:00 PM in London at the German Club.

Article by Bassil Thayabeh.