Different match, same result

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This article was published 12/09/2019 (2344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What’s even left to say at this point?

It’s been the same old story with Valour FC all year. They have a disappointing result, say things will be different next time, but yet, nothing changes.

Thursday night was another prime example of that. Valour didn’t reward the 3,586 fans at IG Field who spent the night in the freezing rain, as Winnipeg’s pro soccer team fell 3-1 to Forge FC. The Hamilton team scored its goals in the first half, with the first coming in the 15th minute, courtesy of Anthony Novak, who now has four goals against Valour this year. Hamilton’s second goal came a minute later from Chris Nanco.

It’s the second straight loss at home for Valour, who were spanked 8-0 by Cavalry FC on Sept. 2.

“It’s criminal,” Valour head coach Rob Gale said on coughing up two goals in a minute. “You’re not giving yourself a chance to go on and win the game. After goals are scored, you always say the next five minutes (you need) to focus, and we work with them. You’ve got sport psychologists. You’ve got people who work behind the scenes. We talk about game management. We talk about eliminating errors. We’ve discussed it and shown video and gone over it. But yet, somehow, we’re making the same errors. If you want to play at the highest level and move on in football, you have to eliminate those from your game.”

Valour played the majority of the match down a man as defender Adam Mitter was given a red card in the 26th minute for an intentional hand ball. The ball was rolling into the Valour net and Mitter tried to get in a position to kick it off the line, but he tripped and swatted at the ball with his hand. Forge midfielder Tristan Borges took advantage of Mitter’s misfortune, as he stepped up and scored on a penalty kick to make it 3-0. Due to the red card, Mitter will miss the next three matches.

“We started off good, and then we seem to always put ourselves in a situation where we have to fight back,” Valour midfielder and Winnipeg native Dylan Carreiro said. “And then little errors in the park and our own side of half cost us goals and cost us a red card today. It’s very draining mentally.”

To be fair, the past two matches have come against the top two teams in the Canadian Premier League. Cavalry ran away with the spring league title and their success has carried over into the fall with a 6-1-4 record. With Thursday night’s win, Forge now sits atop the CPL’s fall standings, with a 7-1-2 mark.

But that doesn’t excuse the fact Valour surrendered 11 goals in 135 minutes of action. They played Cavalry and Forge, not Manchester United and Liverpool. But in Valour’s defence, they didn’t give up on Thursday — which couldn’t be said in the Cavalry game.

The Winnipeg side showed some energy in the final 45 minutes, despite having 10 players. They kept Forge off the scoreboard and outshot them 8-3 in the second half. The game seemed to change when 18-year-old Winnipeg attacker Tyler Attardo came off the bench in the 63rd minute, as he breathed some life into Valour. He scored in the 70th minute. It was his fourth goal of the year. Valour kept pressing, as fellow Winnipegger Marco Bustos had a shot ring off the post in the 83rd minute.

Gale said the team lacked effort in their blowout loss to Cavalry, but he credited his group for not going down a similar path on Thursday as they showed some fight after halftime.

“That’s why we had nine Manitobans in the squad today, because it means extra to us. And that’s why we wanted to get them on and get them at it,” Gale said.

“And there’ll be more to come from those lads who will be here in the future and continue to fight for the badge. There was a collective resolve to be better than they were in the first half. And again, it was just individual errors. When you look at it, there’s nothing you can do tactically to change it up.”

Valour is 0-5 against Forge this year and has been outscored 13-4 combined in those matches. Forge continued their dominance on Thursday, as they had ball possession for 68.1 per cent of the match.

“You could tell they’re a good side. That’s why they’re (at the) top of the table,” Carreiro said.

“Difficult to beat. We’ve (had) a few good games against them, and I think we could’ve got one or two results off them. But, yeah, you could tell they’re a good side and they’ve got good football players.”

The loss dropped Valour to 3-6-3 in the fall season, 11 points behind Forge for first place with six games left to play. Valour doesn’t have much time to regroup — their next match comes Sunday on the road against York9 FC.

Valour star midfielder Michael Petrasso was taken out of the game in the 53rd minute for Dylan Sacramento and was seen limping off the field. Gale said the team is unsure of the severity of the injury and his availability for Sunday’s contest.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31