Powell River Villa came home with its first road point of the season last weekend after playing to a 1-1 tie against Prospect Lake Black 2.
Villa had a full roster of 14 players but some key players, like Kye Taylor, Rob Devlin, Rick Rushton, Dave Bertrand, Jake Kenmuir and Brody Harry, were not on the bus.
Even with the absence of those regulars, Villa arrived in Victoria with a willing group and a plan to win the game.
“I thought we had a solid squad,” said coach Chris McDonough, “especially at the back with solid defenders and midfield, so our spine was good.”
He was speaking of Ben Payne, Dean Thorsell, Nelson Chingate and Daniel Paul who he hoped would limit the opposition’s chances by playing a tight, defensive road game.
“We played behind the ball a lot and kind of relied on our counterattack,” he explained, “so we weren’t attacking like we have in the past. In this game we were really focused on keeping a clean sheet.”
Mission accomplished through the first half, as neither team generated much in the way of offence, which led to a 0-0 tie at the break.
There may not have been many chances but there was a physicality that led to a number of cards issued to Villa.
Their aggression landed them five yellow cards in the game, but the style of play was clearly having an affect on the opposition.
Their patience paid off when, on a counterattack, forward Humberto Rosales broke down the wing and cut to the box where he was taken down.
A penalty kick was awarded to Villa and, at the 56-minute point, marksman Kurtis Dennison pumped the ball low to the keeper’s right for the go-ahead goal.
His goal was the result of some hard work for Villa in the second half and for that they had a number of good chances, including one by Rosales that was saved by the keeper, and another when forward Braxton Leask’s breakaway at 60 minutes was foiled by a nice save.
“I think they were getting frustrated with our defensive style,” said McDonough, “which was us sitting back and waiting for them to come at us.”
Villa was not giving up many chances until Kurtis Dennison got his second yellow card in at the 75-minute mark and put his team a man down.
That was a game changer for Villa as the door opened for Lakehill to make a comeback.
The Victoria team mounted an offensive surge that had Villa reeling for the last 15 minutes of the game after a series of corner kicks.
With just minutes to go, one of those corner kicks came into the box and went to a Lakehill player positioned by the back post and he headed it in for the tying goal.
“They turned up the pressure,” said McDonough, “and we were defending well, but hanging on a little bit.”
Despite the late goal, McDonough was proud of his team and satisfied with the point on the road.
“They are a good team that’s having a pretty good season so it’s a good point for us,” he said.
Villa will lose Dennison, who was awarded Man of the Match, next week due to the two yellow cards, but should see the return of a number of players to face Nanaimo United FC2 at 1:30 pm on Sunday, October 25 at Timberlane Park.
