Vancouver Island Soccer League division 3B leader Powell River Villa shook off the rust from a long holiday layoff and travelled to Alberni Valley to beat Athletics 4-1 on Saturday.
Alberni was a good test for a Villa squad that came back from the break with a number of changes in the lineup.
Gone from the roster were Dylan Buckle, Miguel Gonzales, Jorge Martinez Reyes and Yuto Okiyama and in were a few veterans who don’t normally travel with the team.
Daniel Paul and Rob Devlin boarded the bus with newly signed veteran Julian Welp and they were joined Joel Harry who played on a permit from his university team.
Alberni showed some early jump and play was fairly even during the first 20 minutes of play.
The first goal, at 24 minutes, came off a free kick awarded to Villa after Kye Taylor was brought down just outside the box.
The kick, from 20 yards out, was taken by Billy Bagiopoulos and he bent a perfect ball around the wall, low off the far post and in.
Ten minutes later, Villa got its second free kick when Devlin was mauled and this time Taylor got the call.
He elected to go high with a rocket into the top corner and Villa stretched its lead to 2-0 on the strength of two perfect shots.
Villa received a scare toward the end of the half, though, when keeper Corey McCracken deflected a high shot off the crossbar and over the net to hold Alberni off the sheet.
Leading comfortably after 45 minutes the only question was maintaining the pace after a long layoff but coach Chris McDonough said, “conditioning isn’t an issue with this group because it’s a young, fit team. Our training sessions have been pretty intense the last couple of weeks and the guys were itching to get out there, for sure.”
Indeed, Villa started off the second half very strong and the players asserted themselves in all areas of the game.
They maintained possession, controlled the ball and created several more chances to increase their lead.
Bagiopoulos had a few of them and made good on one when he brought the ball down on the right side, beat his man and scored his second goal on a perfectly placed shot to the far corner.
Up 3-0 at the 65-minute mark, Villa inserted a few subs into the game but kept up the pressure.
With 10 minutes to go Jake Kenmuir beat his man and launched a beautiful shot into the top corner to put Villa up 4-0.
Things looked good for the shutout but, unfortunately for McCracken, he didn’t get the clean sheet when Alberni crossed a ball and the header went in just into injury time.
Overall though, a great effort and nice result for the first game back against a very good opponent.
“It was a good win against a pretty good team,” said McDonough. “We’ve won every game on the road this year, which is uncharacteristic but we’ve been very sharp on the road and probably played some of our best soccer.”
He talked a little about the lineup changes and expectations down the road.
“Some players have stepped up in the absence of guys we had,” he said. “This team is growing and maturing and some of our players are definitely going to improve as they get older.
“We’ve going to have a few more signings,” McDonough revealed, “like Reese Unger, a former Villa player, who is in Campbell River. This is to strengthen our squad for the cup run and other competitions we have coming up in February.”
First things first though and Villa takes a week off before its next game on the road against Lakehill Danger Police on Saturday, February 7.
Chip shots:
Villa’s game against Penelakut on Sunday was postponed due to the closure of Cranberry field for wet conditions.
