It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for Powell River Villa but the team persevered and kept its unbeaten streak alive with a 4-2 win over Prospect Lake Lakers.
Pitch perfect conditions and bright sunny skies greeted the teams at Cranberry Field and both started strong in the match.
Prospect Lake had the first good chance after a forward beat Villa defender Dean Thorsell. Thorsell had to drag him down to prevent a breakaway.
The shot was hard and low to the right but Matt Liknes was there with a diving save to keep the game scoreless.
Villa also had its chances when a lob from Billy Bagiopoulos landed on top of the net and then a couple of consecutive corners narrowly misconnected off the head of Rob Devlin.
After 20 minutes of back and forth play Villa started to press a little more and was rewarded at 38 minutes when Nick van’t Schip’s cross was deflected but made it through to Boseung Kwan who knocked it in.
Villa held onto the 1-0 lead through the first half but wanted to be a lot sharper in the second.
It did that with a Bagiopoulos near miss and another close call from Jake Kenmuir, but it was Kwan once again who gave Villa some breathing room.
He was in the right place at the right time on a rebound and made no mistake firing the ball by the sprawling keeper at 60 minutes.
This goal should have given Villa some comfort but instead it sparked a flurry of action and goals at both ends as the Lakers tried to get back in the game.
First they struck to make it 2-1 but Villa’s van’t Schip answered when Brody Harry’s hard shot came off a post and right to the marksman.
Up 3-1 after 65 minutes, Villa was the victim of a long free kick at 67 minutes that had eyes.
“It was a hard low ball in,” explained Liknes. “A player came diving through and actually got a little touch on it, which threw me off.”
The Lakers get credit for a gritty effort but after they failed in a sustained attack Harry broke free to beat the last defender and the keeper too.
“Nick played it right into my stride and that pass made it easy for me,” Harry said. “I beat the last defender and the keeper was out of his net so the far post was the way to go.”
His goal, with 15 minutes left in the match, made it 4-2 and Villa began to insert fresh substitutes to mop up one of the most challenging matches of the year thus far.
“They had a fairly strong back line,” Harry explained, “and for only coming with 11 players they did very well against us.”
His coach, Chris McDonough, agreed. “We struggled a bit with our touch, coming back onto grass, because we’ve been on turf for a while. It wasn’t our best but we played well at times. We had a good 20-minute stretch at the end of the first half where we were pretty good. The second half was okay as well but a few defensive lapses cost us.”
Man of the match, Kwan, was quick to deflect praise for his two goals.
“My team made it easy for me,” he said, smiling. “I just finished them. I’ve never played on a team that hasn’t lost.”
He and his teammates travel to Victoria on Saturday, November 29, to take on Juan de Fuca FC.
