For a team that has had trouble putting up goals, Powell River Villa sure has turned things around of late.
It added five more to the four it had on the previous weekend and came away with another win on Sunday afternoon against Victoria’s Peninsula Stachers 3A.
Just 11 players made the trip so a couple of affiliate players were added from Fernwood United FC of Division 4A and each of them received about 10 minutes of playing time.
Villa got off to a good start on the natural turf in Sidney and after a considerable advantage scored the first goal 15 minutes in.
Mike Rowley, who saw limited action with Villa last year, took a pass from Nick van’t Schip and drilled it into the low right corner from 15 yards.
After steady pressure from Powell River the second goal came from van’t Schip who labelled a left footer from 10 yards out.
A 2-0 lead is every road team’s dream but Stachers managed to get one back when the ball bounced around between Ben Elliot and keeper Ross Fitzgibbon and ended up in the net.
That one came just before the first half ended but Villa was still confident and intent on turning up the pressure in the second.
The tactic sounded good but Stachers took advantage of a Villa miscue and scored from six yards out to tie the game 2-2.
Villa played with much more urgency after that and went ahead 3-2 when Matt Liknes, who was playing up front, played the ball up to Brody Harry and he banked in a shot off a Stachers player.
Harry’s goal energized Villa and the players really started to pour it on which resulted in a handball and penalty kick at the 70-minute mark.
Elliot’s shot was perfect as he went low to the keeper’s left and Villa restored its two-goal lead, 4-2.
The final goal was a beauty that came with 15 minutes to play when Rowley knocked a ball down with his knee and then one-timed a volley in from 16 yards.
Except for a bit of a hiccup in the middle, the good start and strong finish were particularly pleasing to the coach.
“We had the lion’s share of the possession,” said coach Chris McDonough, “but it was a real back and forth on the scoresheet. We had a little lapse and gave them some hope, but we responded nicely and the guys didn’t let it get to them. We buried our chances, which is what we need to do to a team to be successful.”
The 5-2 final meant Villa is in a three-way tie for third in the division with one game in hand.
“It’s basically down to a four-horse race,” said McDonough. “Sagres, Castaways, Hellas and ourselves are all right there at the top. Just one team gets to go through at the end of the year so it’s going to be a bit of a dogfight.”
Villa’s next match is against Penelakut United 3A at 1:30 pm on Sunday, November 24 at Timberlane Park.
Rank Team GP W L T GF GA Diff Pts
1 Castaways FC 3A 10 7 1 2 26 6 20 23
2 FC Sagres 3A 9 6 1 2 15 8 7 20
3 Hellas FC 3A 10 6 3 1 25 12 13 19
4 Powell River Villa 3A 9 6 2 1 21 11 10 19
5 SFFC Active Earth Engineering 3A 10 4 2 4 19 17 2 16
6 Lakehill Danger Police 3A 9 4 4 1 25 20 5 13
7 Westcastle SSFC 3A 8 2 3 3 13 14 -1 9
8 Penelakut United 3A 8 2 5 1 16 24 -8 7
9 Juan de Fuca 3A 10 0 8 2 7 33 -26 2
10 Peninsula Stachers 3A 9 0 8 1 8 30 -22 1
