Valour FC wins at home for first time

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This article was published 16/05/2022 (1586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With a late strike from the birthday boy, Valour FC came away with three points on Sunday at IG Field.

Valour and the visiting York United FC were locked in at 0-0 for the majority of the match before attacking midfielder Sean Rea, a loanee from CF Montreal who turned 20 on Sunday, let a shot rip from outside the box in the 87th minute. Rea’s blast fired into the bottom left corner of the net past York goalkeeper Niko Giantsopoulos.

“It was an amazing goal. Honestly, I saw the ball at my feet and I saw three guys around me and I was like ‘How am I going to get out of this?’ My body honestly just took over, found a way out, and I was like ‘This is my chance’ and I just shot at the left corner and it went in,” Rea said.

It’s Valour’s first victory at IG Field this season as they finished their home opener on May 7 against HFX Wanderers FC in a scoreless draw. Valour improves to 2-2-1 on the year while York falls to 2-2-2.

Valour was outshot 14-9 but won the possession battle at 59 per cent.

“I think we were the best team in the first half, and we finished the first half well,” said Valour head coach Phillip Dos Santos. “We were getting half chances, we were getting in behind and chances to put balls in and square it near the six-yard box; I felt we should’ve had a goal at that point in time. The game’s like that, there’s gonna be high moments and low moments and you need to manage those.”

Dos Santos and Co. enjoyed another brilliant performance from goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. The Canadian Premier League’s reigning Goalkeeper of the Year stopped a penalty shot in the second half and has now saved four of the five penalty kicks in his Valour career. Similar to Rea, Sirois is on loan from MLS side CF Montreal.

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“That was a crazy save but, honestly, I had no doubt. Jo thrives in these situations. When they called the penalty I was like, ‘We know Jo’s got this,’” Rea said. “He’s the one who kept us in the game. He gave the team a boost and we felt it. That’s what we needed to keep going, keep pushing and it paid off.”

“That’s just what Jo does. He’s a great shot stopper, he’s great with his feet and he’s just a wall in net. When there’s a penalty it’s not a 50-50, it’s more a 70-30 in Jo’s favour. It’s great to have a keeper that strong in net.”

Valour returns to action on Saturday in Calgary against Cavalry FC.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.