Powell River Villa came away from its last regular-season road game with a 1-1 tie against Gorge FC on January 29 at Hampton Park Kulai Turf in Victoria.
“We had a good first half, and were happy to play the first 45 minutes without a score on either side,” said Tony Leach, Villa’s coach. “Both teams had a couple of good scoring chances in the first half. Overall, we were very evenly matched.”
Villa opened the scoring at 51 minutes in the second half with a goal by Jake Kenmuir.
“We came out in the second half playing very good technical soccer,” said Leach. “We had a nice passing play down the side between Jacob Duyvesteyn and Jake Kenmuir. Jake got his defenceman turned around and put a nice left-foot kick into the back corner of the net. It was a beautiful goal.”
Villa held the lead for 15 minutes before Gorge scored at 66 minutes in the second half.
“We had a small defensive lapse that led to Gorge’s goal,” said Leach. “They had a free kick, and the ball got through our defencemen in the front. Matt [Liknes] made the initial save, but the rebound landed right on the foot of a Gorge player, who took the opportunity and scored. We had another great scoring chance late in the game, but weren’t able to get another goal for the win.”
Leach praised the team for not giving up, working both to take the lead and preventing any further goals from their opponents.
“Our defensive line of Grant Campbell, Richard “Chico” Murphy, and Nick Van’t Schip had a great game, especially coming up against two really big Gorge forwards,” said Leach. “Chico probably took away 95 per cent of their scoring chances in his battles with one of their forwards; I’m sure they found it frustrating.”
The tie awarded one point to Villa, and while their place in Vancouver Island Soccer League’s Division 1 rankings hasn’t changed, they are now one more point up on eighth-place Juan de Fuca All Flows, who lost on the weekend.
“We play the All Flows in three weeks, and that will be a very important game for our hopes of remaining in Division 1 next season,” said Leach. “For now, we’re focusing on our match against Nanaimo United FC this weekend. They are in second place, but when they played Gorge two weeks ago, they only won by a score of 2-1, so it should be a great game to watch.”
The game takes place on Saturday, February 5, at Timberlane Park. Play begins at 1:30 pm, and tickets will be available at the gate.
“We had a small but energetic cheering section down in Victoria against Gorge, and it really boosted the team’s spirits,” said Leach. “We’re looking forward to what the home field advantage will bring for us on Saturday."
