After the best start in years, Powell River Villa finds itself in last place and looking for answers in its bid to stay in Vancouver Island Soccer League’s division two.
Since week five of the schedule, the trend has been downward for the young team that struggles to have success against the parity of the division.
Consistency is the key this year and while the club hasn’t lost at Timberlane Park, the road record is dismal with just a single point from a tie in seven games.
Granted most of the losses have been by one goal, but Villa has scored just 12 goals in 13 games and even in soccer, that won’t give a team a lot of wins.
The game in Duncan against Cowichan United 2 on Saturday started out pretty evenly with both sides maintaining equal possession in front of a good crowd.
David Bertrand had a couple of opportunities. One he passed off but misconnected with Sean Jenkins and Nick van’t Schip, and the other was a missed opportunity to shoot from a good position.
Tied 0-0 at the half is still considered okay for a road team, but the lead would have been even better for Villa who had to get some points.
That’s the desperate edge Villa was missing as time ticked away in the second half.
Matt Liknes wasn’t all that busy but was involved in a couple of big plays that impacted the game.
He was mauled on one occasion by a Cowichan striker who was immediately taken on by Bertrand.
Memories of Brandon Knox’s red card, when he rushed in to defend Kye Taylor earlier this year, were still vivid, but this time both Bertrand and the Cowichan player received yellows.
“Matt is a young kid and we have to stand up for him,” said coach Jamie Zroback, “and I’m glad David went after him.”
Soon after that altercation, Liknes made the save of the game when he dove to snare a header at 70 minutes that was surely going into the net.
With 10 minutes to go and a chance to win the game, Taylor, who was on the sidelines with a nagging injury, strapped a brace onto his knee and went into the game.
Unfortunately for Villa, Cowichan scored the winner on a rush down the field and a good shot that beat Liknes low on the short side.
With just six minutes left to play, Villa pulled out all stops, but got caught and gave up another goal with two minutes to go.
Villa was in this game for most of the 90 minutes, but the frustration comes not so much from the score, as the consistency of the effort.
“I could tell right from the start of the game that the guys who were the difference makers last week weren’t nearly as ready to play this week,” said Zroback. “Our league is so tight, there haven’t been any blowout games and every one has been a nail-biter. That’s why we have to be prepared and have our A-game every week.”
One positive thing is that the upcoming game will be played at home. “We’re undefeated on Timberlane,” said Zroback. “We’re playing Lakehill Reds at home and they are a young, quick, fast team in first place, but we’ve got to get three points this weekend.”
This one looks to be a pretty good match and it takes place at 1:30 pm on Sunday, February 3 at Timberlane Park.
