Timberlane Park is officially open and Powell River Villa celebrated with a convincing 1-0 win over Gorge FC on Sunday.
The week-old pitch was extremely busy with youth soccer and over 35 soccer wrapped around the Vancouver Island Soccer League match.
Anyone would be hard pressed to find another setting as beautiful as this one and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the occasion.
About 100 fans and young soccer players gathered to take in the match and Villa gave them reason to cheer with several good chances early on.
Just a few minutes in, David Bertrand dished the ball back to Tristan Forseth and he drilled a ball just high over the bar. Seconds later Bertrand kicked a back pass to Brody Harry who drifted a shot that also went a little high.
Villa missed a couple more chances early but at 21 minutes Kye Taylor put a perfect pass through to Sean Jenkins who, with a couple of players hanging off him, broke free and left-footed a shot into the lower right corner.
Villa had no problem defending its lead to the end of the first half but in the second Gorge FC had a couple of openings on keeper Matt Liknes.
On Gorge’s best chance Liknes came out to challenge a striker left alone at the side of his box and made himself big to block a hard shot that could have tied the game.
Villa survived the Gorge push by pushing back and sometimes players became a little over zealous.
Hard-nosed midfielder Brandon Knox, after a warning from the referee, was one of the veterans who upped his physical play but in return received a short meeting and a card for his rambunctious play.
Knox wasn’t content to wait for Gorge to tie the game and his lead-by-example play sent a message to his team that sitting on a one-goal lead just wouldn’t cut it.
Bertrand heard it loud and clear as he tore around the Gorge end of the pitch giving fits to defenders.
On one occasion the Gorge keeper reached out and tackled Bertrand after losing a battle for a loose ball.
Bertrand was shocked by the call that awarded Gorge a free kick but kept his cool and continued to play hard for his team.
“That was quite a debatable call,” said Bertrand later, “and I thought he grabbed me, so it was unfortunate.”
As valuable as he was on the offensive side of the pitch, Bertrand had to switch jerseys with keeper Liknes who went down clutching his leg in a collision with a Gorge player at 88 minutes.
“I went out for it with my hands,” said Liknes. “He came in and got some studs on my knee and got my ankle pretty good. I’m not one for leaving the game but I’ve always got to think about the weeks to come.”
Bertrand, who has some experience in goal, came in for the last five minutes and again caught the attention of the official.
“What David did was make the save, but he had the ball resting on the ground in his hands,” said Taylor. “He dribbled it out and when the forward forced him he picked it up for the first time.”
The call was corrected and the ensuing drop ball just off to the side of the Villa goal “was risky,” Taylor said later. He added, “You just get as many bodies as you can around the ball and be stronger than the guy in front of you.”
Bertrand, who had a great day at both ends of the pitch, liked the improvement he saw on Sunday.
“We played much better than last week,” he said, “and it’s good we’re getting points early unlike the last few years. We’ve always had good [defence] and we pride ourselves on that. I’ll take the 1-0 win any day and take the clean sheet.”
Villa has a bye next week and travels on Saturday, September 29 to Victoria to take on Gordon Head Blazers.
Chip Shots:
Villa players, who share first place in the division, looked great in their uniforms sponsored by Lockeroom Sporting Goods and Modern Windows and Siding.
