Villa travelled to Nanaimo for the third weekend of Vancouver Island Soccer League (VISL) regular season play on Saturday, September 21, for a match held at Merle Logan Turf.
The visitors were unable to find the back of the net in Nanaimo but goaltender Emil Valing posted his third shutout in a row to help his team earn a single point in Division 1 standings from a 0-0 tie.
“We put in a solid 90-minute effort and created more scoring opportunities than our previous two games,” said Villa manager Chris McDonough. "Just a little unlucky finishing them off."
Villa’s Russell Pielle was handed a red card in the 90th minute due to a second caution. Teammates Jamie Perez and Solomon Reghelin received yellow cards for infractions earlier in the second half of play.
Two yellow cards were given to Nanaimo players, one to Declan Brown in the first half for unsporting behaviour and another in the second half to Benedek Horvath for delaying the restart of play.
McDonough praised Villa defenders for preventing scoring chances.
“Another excellent defensive effort by our back four of Jacob Duyvesteyn, Grant Hooper, James Timothy and Jake Kenmuir,” said McDonough. “They did a good job keeping most of Nanaimo’s chances to shots from distance and absorbing the pressure when we went down to 10 men in the last five minutes of injury time.”
Villa hosts winless but also undefeated (three ties) Victoria Highlanders at Timberlane Park on Saturday, September 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 pm.
After three rounds of Division 1 matches, Villa is one of three teams without a loss. Vic West tops the table with nine points from three wins, Lakehill is second (two wins, one loss) with six points, followed by Villa in third with five points (one win, two ties).
Bays United (Victoria) and Comox Valley United each have records of one win, one loss and one tie for four points each. Highlanders are tied for sixth among the 10 teams with three points from a trio of tie games. Gorge FC (one win, two losses) is tied with Highlanders.
Nanaimo and Sooke Celtic are tied for eighth (two ties and one loss each) with two points. Cowichan Axis is at the bottom of the table with a single point from one tie.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
