Home side fails to score

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This article was published 16/05/2019 (2535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a game they’re going to want to soon forget, but unfortunately for Valour FC, they’ll have two weeks to dwell on Thursday night’s disappointing result.

Valour FC lost 2-0 to Hamilton’s Forge FC at IG Field in front of 4,731 fans to drop their record to 2-3 on the season. Forge FC improved to 2-2-1 and leapfrogged Valour in the Canadian Premier League standings as they now have seven points compared to Valour’s six.

Winnipeg’s newest professional soccer team has now lost two out of their three games at home, and will have to wait until June 1 when they take on FC Edmonton on the road to try to get back to their winning ways.

“We gifted two goals this evening and that’s the difference,” said Valour FC head coach and general manager Rob Gale. “You’re going to get punished and they punished our mistakes. We didn’t do enough to test their goalkeeper for all the possession and ball movement that we did have. We’ve got to find ways to put them under more pressure.”

Forge outshot Valour 4-2 on the night, but the home side controlled the possession for 56.1 per cent of the game. Costly turnovers and questionable decisions with the ball that led to Valour’s demise.

“I don’t think they’re two goals better than us. Any time. Definitely not tonight,” Gale said. “But that’s a professional away performance and they punished us, so congratulations to them.”

Valour didn’t get the start they were looking for, or needed, as Forge opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Off a Valour FC corner kick, Forge struck with their counterattack by gaining possession of the ball and sending forward Anthony Novak on a breakaway. Valour goalie Tyson Farago came out of the net to chase Novak down, but he didn’t stand a chance. Novak danced around him and scored on an open net.

“I think that’s just the kind of team we are,” said Valour midfielder Dylan Sacramento, who took the corner kick. “We want to create and go forward and we got caught on that one. It happens.”

The second half didn’t start much better for Valour, as it took back-to-back impressive plays by defenders Jordan Murrell and Martin Arguinarena early on to keep it a one-goal game. Both defenders helped out Farago by clearing Forge FC shot attempts off the goal-line.

But they couldn’t keep Forge midfielder Tristan Borges, who was all over Valour all night, off the score sheet for much longer. Borges drilled a shot from just outside the box that deflected off of Murrell and hit the back of the net in the 69th minute to essentially put the game out of reach.

“Good quality finish by Tristan, who was probably the best player on the field tonight to be fair to him,” Gale said about Borges, a 20-year-old Toronto native who has scored in two straight games for Forge.

“And their only attacking threat, I thought.”

It’s been a hectic start to the inaugural CPL season for Valour, as Thursday night’s contest was their fifth game in 16 days. But Valour captain Murrell said the team isn’t blaming their busy schedule for anything.

“That’s an excuse. We’re not about that,” Murrell said. “We’ll fight till 95 minutes, we’ll fight to 100, we’ll fight to 300 minutes if we have to. Tired legs is not an issue for our team.”

An issue for Valour has been their inability to score — they have four goals in five games. Having two weeks to get attacking midfielder Marco Bustos, who signed with the club 10 days ago, more comfortable should definitely help. As will getting midfielder Michael Petrasso back healthy. Petrasso missed his second straight game due to a hamstring injury, but Gale said he is close to being back to full health. Gale said getting his offence on track will definitely be a priority during their time off.

“We’ve got to go and try and win football matches and take the game to the opposition. And now what we need to improve is just that final third,” Gale said. “Everything else is there.”

20-year-old forward Federico Pena, a Winnipeg native, saw his first game action of the season when he replaced fellow Winnipegger Dylan Sacramento in the 79th minute. After five games, all 22 players have played for Valour this season.

 

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31