Valour FC not out of the game yet

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This article was published 30/08/2020 (2189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two second-half subs were the heroes Saturday as Valour FC forced its way back into contention for the second stage of the Canadian Premier League’s Island Games tournament.

Midfielder Daryl Fordyce came onto the pitch in the 59th minute and promptly scored on a penalty to give Winnipeg a 1-0 and attacker Masta Kacher’s booming finish in the 88th minute, only 12 minutes after entering the game, put the cap on a crucial 2-1 victory over FC Edmonton in Charlottetown.

Captain Dylan Carreiro’s corner found Kacher at the edge of the box and the 24-year-old Montreal native made no mistake, drilling a shot past Eddies goalkeeper Connor James.

Valour improved to 2-1-2 (seven points) and went from seventh to a tie for fourth place with York9 FC — Winnipeg has two games remaining in the first stage. Edmonton, eighth and last in the standings, fell to 0-1-4.

The Winnipeggers, who face HFX Wanderers FC Wednesday, must finish in the top four to qualify for the tournament’s second stage.

“I tried to get myself in position where I could get the… ball out of the corner,” said Kacher via telephone prior to Sunday’s training session. “We’ve got some big men on the box, so just kinda put myself in position where the ball could fall and I was right there at the right moment. I just hit it hard.”

Valour’s opening goal was unusual. James stopped the penalty shot and the ball rebounded to Fordyce who nonchalantly slotted the ball into the open side of the net.

“Yeah, it was a little bit of luck,” said Fordyce, a newcomer to Valour who is also Edmonton’s all-time leading scorer after 6 1/2 seasons with the franchise.

“The ball came straight back to me and I was calm to put it in the goal so in this sport, you need a little bit of luck, and thankfully we had some on our side just when we needed it. Our second goal was certainly not luck. It was pure class; a lot of finish from Masta and exactly what we needed at that time in the game because Edmonton missed a great chance just before.”

Easton Ongaro pulled Edmonton even a 1-1 in the 73rd minute. Valour goalkeeper James Pantemis kept the score even, stopping Tomi Ameobi in the 86th minute.

Fordyce, meanwhile, admitted he had never scored in such a fashion.

“I struck the ball well,” said Fordyce. “It was just a nice height and the goalie guessed the correct way but the ball felt like it came back to me slow. I had my eye focused on the ball and I seen the big side, just to pass it in the other side.

“As soon as goalie saved it, in a split second I refocused on the ball and passed it into the corner.”

Taking the penalty, created when Valour’s Austin Ricci was taken down by Mele Temguia, was not originally Fordyce’s role.

“(Valour head coach) Rob Gale was speaking to (Edmonton head coach) Jeff Paulus and Jeff sorta asked him why I never took the penalty because I always scored them for Edmonton,” said Fordyce.

“And Rob asked me if I would take a penalty and I said, ‘No problem.’ And as soon as I came on the pitch, the first touch was the penalty.”

Valour, which has scored all six of its tournament goals in its two victories, pushed hard in the second half to generate offence.

“We knew that it was a must-win game so the mentality going into the game was to look to go forward and for sure to be as solid defensively as we’ve been all tournament,” added Kacher. “We had some lack of goals and yesterday we pushed and we got what we deserved off that game.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14