Powell River Villa made a day trip to the island on Saturday for a 2 pm start against Cowichan Valley Sportstraders.
It was Villa’s first game since Christmas after a field closure at Cranberry last week forced the postponement of their game against Prospect Lake Lakers.
Sportstraders, on the other hand, got theirs in and pulled out a big 3-1 win over Gordon Head Blazers.
Villa, who trailed Cowichan by four points heading into this match, needed a strong effort and a win that would have closed the gap in the standings to two points.
With that on the line, Villa’s lineup included all of their starters and they left Powell River determined to get a win.
It looked good early for Powell River when they got off to a strong start and out-chanced their opponents in the first 45 minutes.
“We took it to them in the first half,” said coach Jamie Zroback, “and we were very strong in the back with Kye Taylor and [Tony] Carroll in the middle.”
Dean Thorsell and Robbie Devlin were on the outside and the strong legs of David Bertrand, Brandon Knox, Mike Hurren and Jordan Peters had Cowichan on the run up to the first break.
The second half, however, was different as perhaps the Christmas break caught up to Villa.
“Our fitness dropped off and we couldn’t press anymore,” said Zroback. “We got put on our heels a little bit and if there’s anything we have to pick up, it’s fitness from the break.”
Fortunately, Villa had a healthy string of young colts on the sideline and three of them were put into the game to maintain the pace.
The raised energy level got them their best scoring chance of the game when Grant Campbell was on the receiving end of a long ball at the 75th minute.
He settled it down and was through the middle on a clear break but just as he was going to take his shot he stumbled on the ball and it squirted out behind him.
Fortunately Peters was following up but in his excitement and heat of the moment blasted the ball over the net from 12 yards.
“That was our one chance to win 1-0,” said Zroback who added, “their goalie was really good and he commanded the error.”
At the other end of the pitch, Cory McCracken was given full credit for his shutout as he made a couple of spectacular saves to keep Cowichan off the scoresheet.
A win would have given Villa a little breathing room in the standings before an anticipated problem with the roster.
“We’re going to have some problems in a few weeks,” explained Zroback, “because we have a few players such as Knox, Thorsell and Carroll who we know won’t be available to us.”
Villa’s options are to take the best of the youth movement or the fittest of the veterans but either way it’s going to be tough sledding for about a month.
“We’re going to have to train really hard in the next few weeks,” said Zroback, “and try to pick it up with the players whose fitness has tailed off.”
Villa’s next match is against Saltspring FC 1:30 pm, Sunday, January 30 at Cranberry Field.
Division 2
Team Name Ranking GP W L T GF GA GR Points
Vic West FC 2 1 15 13 1 1 37 8 4.63 40
Gordon Head Blazers 2 2 16 8 3 5 25 15 1.67 29
Nanaimo United FC 2 3 15 9 4 2 21 15 1.40 29
Prospect Lake Lakers 2 4 14 8 5 1 22 17 1.29 25
Castaways FC 2 5 14 7 4 3 30 21 1.43 24
Cowichan Sportstraders 2 6 14 4 3 7 18 16 1.13 19
Saltspring FC 2 7 15 5 6 4 15 24 0.63 19
Vantreights 2 8 15 4 6 5 22 23 0.96 17
Powell River Villa 2 9 15 3 7 5 11 16 0.69 14
Comox Valley United 2 10 15 3 10 2 16 29 0.55 11
FC Sagres 2 11 15 1 8 6 13 27 0.48 9
Gordon Head Blue 2 12 15 2 10 3 16 35 0.46 9
