Powell River Villa battled to a 1-1 tie against Victoria Highlanders FC at Timberlane Park on Sunday, February 13.
“We’ve never managed to take a point off of Highlanders in all the seasons we’ve played them, so to achieve this result was a real testament to how much Villa has improved this season,” said Tony Leach, Villa’s coach. “We were missing some players, had rearranged our lineup, and the guys worked really hard with a great attitude out on the field. That translated into a result we can be proud of.”
Highlanders opened the scoring at 14 minutes, the only goal in the first half.
“We went into the second half down a goal, and it showed a lot of character and integrity for the team to come back from that,” said Grant Campbell, who played centre-back during the game. “We’ve done that several times this year. Everyone came together, put in the hard work, and we were able to tie it up and maintain that for the rest of the game.”
Villa’s goal came almost immediately after halftime, with Jake Kenmuir scoring at 46 minutes.
“Right off the kickoff, we made a good passing play,” said Leach. “The ball went from Chico [Richard Murphy] to Jake, who was able to maneuver the ball right between the defender’s legs. He touched it once on the other side of the Highlanders’ player, and got a blistering shot away. It went right into the corner-side netting, and the goalie didn’t even have a chance to move.”
The tie awarded Villa one point in Vancouver Island Soccer League Division 1 standings, but did not move the club out of the relegation zone.
“Three teams will be moved down to Division 2 at the end of the season, and right now we’re in one of those relegation spots,” said Leach. “However, this weekend we play Juan de Fuca All Flows, who are only one point ahead of us and are in the last Division 1 spot. It’s absolutely imperative that we win this weekend’s game to have a chance of staying in Division 1.”
Villa has two regular season games left, as do the other four teams fighting for the final spot, and many of those games are against each other.
“Our other game is against Gorge FC, who are only four points ahead of us, so there’s a good chance of winning there, too,” said Leach. “When you look at all the matches left to play in Division 1 this season, there are many possible outcomes that could affect our chances of not being relegated, like if Westcastle beats Comox on March 19 rather than the other way around. We can only focus on the things we can affect, and that includes working for wins this weekend against Juan de Fuca and March 5 against Gorge.”
Both games will be played at Timberlane, and the team hopes local fans will come out and support the players. Kickoff against Juan de Fuca on Saturday, February 19, is 1:30 pm.
“It definitely helps to have the fans at the field cheering for us,” said Campbell. “We love the support, and we’re so thankful for the boost it gives us to perform on home turf. Thanks to all our fans for making it a great season.”
