Valour FC coach, players not pressing panic button

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This article was published 10/05/2019 (2640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Valour FC has been the Canadian Premier League’s busiest team. The Winnipeggers will play their fourth game in 11 days today, but head coach Rob Gale will admit no anxiety over a 1-2 start.

But a home date against the visiting HFX Wanderers at IGF, in the midst of the CPL’s abbreviated 10-game spring season, looks like a must-win match.

“I don’t know if there’s any increased urgency per se, because you’re still building your identity and everything else,” Gale said Friday afternoon. “We’re in the tough slog because we had five games (in 16 days). Edmonton’s had a game and then another week off and then another home game — minimal travel. But there will be a stage in the season where everyone else has that as well. You look at the schedule — some at the end of June leading into July.

“When it gets down to the business end, potentially, in the spring season, they’ll have their tough schedules and how will they deal with getting up four times before 8 o’clock in the morning and travelling across a country our size and going in and having minimal recovery time and training. We’ll see. If they deal with it better than us, congratulations, they’ll be ahead of us in the table. But it isn’t easy.”

For veteran Valour centre back Adam Mitter, a 26-year-old Englishman who has played professionally in eight countries, there is no reason to panic.

“I don’t think anyone’s anxious,” Mitter said. “I think think if you’ve see all three games, we should’ve had points from all three games. We should’ve won the Edmonton game and we should’ve got a point (in Calgary). Nobody’s worried. We understand the quality that’s in that change room.

“Things just haven’t been falling our way, which I’m sure is about to change if we keep creating the chances. For all three games, we’ve defended excellently.

“Nobody’s broke us down.”

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The combination of Mitter and defenders Jordan Murrell and Skylar Thomas looks formidable.

“It was great to get in,” said Mitter, who recovered from an early-season injury to appear in two of Valour’s three matches thus far.

“It’s great to be able to play with Jordan and Skylar (Thomas) next to me. They’re two top-quality players (and) two top-quality defenders as well, so it helps my game a little bit.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14