A slightly diminished roster on Powell River Villa’s first road trip was a recipe for the team’s first loss of the year on Saturday, September 19.
After a 1-1 tie at home on September 13, Villa hoped to take advantage of one of the weaker teams in Division 2 of Vancouver Island Soccer League (VISL), Lakehill United FC2, but a handful of Powell River players were unavailable for the trip.
As a result, 14 players were on the bus for Saturday’s game, but impact players such as Kye Taylor, Rick Rushton, Brandon Knox and Ben Payne weren’t.
Even without them, Villa got off to a great start and held a majority of the possession through the first 20 minutes.
Villa had a couple of good chances to score, the best coming when forward Jake Kenmuir beat his man down the wing and crossed the ball through to the six-yard line.
Forward Nelson Chingate got his foot on it but the Lakehill keeper made a huge save to keep the game scoreless.
“Lakehill is a big, organized team, especially organized defensively,” explained Villa coach Chris McDonough. “They were playing the counter game and defended really well, but when they countered they were also fairly dangerous.”
This kind of patience paid off for Lakehill when Villa dropped their guard and gave their opponents an opening.
A Lakehill striker got behind the Villa defenders and in on goal to rip a shot top corner past goalkeeper Matt Liknes at 30 minutes.
That was the only clear chance Lakehill had throughout the first half, but it was all they needed to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
“We probably had three or four really good chances and the majority of the play,” said McDonough, “so that was really frustrating.”
Villa came out of the break hoping to change their luck, but unfortunately it was more of the same.
They were able to pass the ball around the outside but couldn’t penetrate or generate much in the offensive third of the pitch.
With 15 minutes remaining, Villa brought another man forward in a last-ditch effort to tie the game and the move backfired with a counterattack by Lakehill resulting in an insurance goal.
It was a frustrating game for Villa because it was one where they played well enough to win, but came up empty on the scoresheet, explained McDonough.
“That was the story of the game,” sighed McDonough, “we had five or six good chances and they had three and buried two of them.
“Our inability to score let us down this week,” he admitted, “but we really knocked the ball around nicely and had a lot of possession. We played the right way, but our lack of finishing came back to haunt us.”
After last year’s offensive explosion, the realization that Division 2 of VISL is going to be a little tougher is settling in with McDonough and his team.
“We’re not going to be able to beat up on teams like we did last year,” said McDonough. “Every team is organized defensively and they will be solid and usually it’s just a matter of one or two mistakes that can determine the outcome of a game. That’s exactly what happened to us today.”
Villa will be looking for its first win at Timberlane Park this weekend when they take on the undefeated Vantreights FC2 on Sunday, September 27 at 1:30 pm.
