STANDISH — Despite showing flashes of being a good team, the Thornton Academy Golden Trojans find themselves at 0-3 after losing to Bonny Eagle 4-2 on Tuesday night.

The Trojans twice cut the lead to one in the second half, but lost by a two-goal margin for the third time.

The Scots took the lead less than eight minutes into the game, as Ryan Moody tapped the ball in after James Patchell’s shot from long distance hit the crossbar, hit the goal line, and stayed out of the goal momentarily.

The Trojans had plenty of chances to tie the game as the first half wore on, but couldn’t get on the same page to finish their opportunities.

Thornton also had trouble dealing with a fast front line for the Scots, who wreaked havoc on the counter-attack. That counter-attack led to Bonny Eagle’s second goal, as Patchell slid through the Thornton defense from the left side, had his first shot stopped by Trojan goalkeeper Hayes Estrella, then booted home his own rebound to put the Scots up 2-0 with 10 minutes to go in the half.

“I think the first half we struggled to find consistency, and we let up a few early first-half goals that shouldn’t have been,” said Thornton junior Eric Gooch. “And we just came out slow.”

The Scots nearly made it 3-0 a minute into the second half, but a goal by Ben McCallister was disallowed when he was called offsides.

That near miss woke the Trojans up, but they still struggled to take advantage of the opportunities that were given to them. They had two chances inside the 6-yard box five minutes in, starting with a cross from Gooch across the 6-yard line that went untouched in front of the net.

“It was tough not getting it, but I think for the most part everybody kept working hard,” said Gooch. “It’s always hard to be so close and miss it.”

Gooch finally scored for TA two minutes later, as he got behind the Bonny Eagle defense on a send-in pass from Mitchell Dehetre from 40 yards out, and put a quick shot past Scots goalie Zack Moody.

Thornton had two good chances to tie the game midway through the half, but Alex Arnold and Jacob Hale each sent shots from 25 yards out over the crossbar three minutes apart.

The Scots regained their two-goal lead 22 minutes in, as Patchell got behind the Trojan defense on a counter-attack and slipped a shot past Estrella.

After Devin Borchard nearly gave the Scots a three-goal lead off of a corner kick three minutes later, the Trojans had their own counter-attack that ended with Dan Marsh pushing a low shot past Moody to make it 3-2.

“I was really happy and excited the way the guys came out and took the game to Bonny Eagle in the second half,” said Thornton head coach Andy Carlson. “And they played right ”˜til the end.”

The Trojans had two close misses in the final 10 minutes that could have tied the game. The first one came with nine minutes to go, Darius Nytacyo headed Gooch’s corner kick, but Arnold’s re-direct went wide right.

Less than three minutes later, Gooch slipped a pass past the Bonny Eagle back line to Marsh, but Moody stopped Marsh’s first shot, and his second sailed over the crossbar.

“It’s frustrating. We had the momentum there. You score there and maybe the result is a little bit different,” said Carlson.

The Scots put the game away with less than three minutes to go, as Ryan Moody whiffed trying to bicycle kick a cross from Patchell. He recovered in time to hit a point-blank shot past Estrella.

Despite a promising second half, Thornton still finds itself winless heading into a home game against Windham on Thursday.

“You got to win some games to get in the tournament,” said Carlson. “Good play for a half ”“ style points don’t win you any (heal) points.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.