Valour draw way out of doldrums

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This article was published 27/07/2019 (2491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Well, it wasn’t a win — but for fans at Saturday’s Valour FC home game against the top-ranked Cavalry FC, it definitely felt like one.

With Cavalry up 1-0 in the dying minutes of the second half, Marco Bustos struck gold on a penalty kick. The Valour midfielder rifled the ball past the reaching arms of Cavalry goalie Nikolas Giantsopoulos to equalize the score.

“We haven’t gotten a point at home here for a while, I think the fans deserve that, we deserve it. I just felt comfortable taking the penalty, scored and got a good point,” Bustos said.

“It’s a good feeling, something we need to bring more of here. More goals to come, hopefully. We just need to keep the support coming out and, you know, just keep growing as a club and as individuals.”

Saturday’s draw was definitely a step in the right direction for Valour, who — before this game — hadn’t earned a point at home since their 1-0 victory over the HFX Wanderers on May 11.

Head coach Rob Gale said it’s about time Valour fans were given something to cheer about. More than 5,100 fans came out to IG Field for Saturday’s fall season home opener.

“This was a step, it wasn’t a defeat. It gave the fans something to cheer about, which we desperately want, but we’ve got to continue to improve,” Gale said.

One positive was the palpable difference from Valour’s energy and aggressiveness at the end of the spring season compared to what they showed on Saturday.

Valour midfielder Dylan Sacramento says the team has been working on organizing and keeping their lines together and more connected, to try and avoid the long stretches of running and gaps that were occurring earlier in the season.

“We’ve improved tremendously, I think you could see a bit more aggressiveness today from us. Just have to be capitalizing on our chances going forward, because they’re there, just that deadly finish we can’t get the chance to figure it out. It’s gonna come.”

The aggression in Valour’s game showed, but not always in a positive way. Three players — Skylar Thomas, Michele Paolucci and Raphael Ohin — were issued yellow cards during the match. Saturday’s yellow was Ohin’s fourth over the course of the spring and fall seasons combined, meaning Valour will have an offensive gap to fill when he’s given a mandatory benching in two weeks’ time.

By scoring an equalizer, Valour handed Cavalry their first non-winning result of the fall campaign.

While Cavalry is still at the top of the table with a 3-0-1 record, it hasn’t been a cakewalk for the Calgary-based team. Cavalry are coming off of an impressive 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps of the MLS on Wednesday, which advanced them to the semifinal of the Canadian Championship.

Cavalry flew to Winnipeg on Thursday, practised on Friday and had to be prepared for Saturday’s noon match. Sacramento said it wasn’t lost on the team that Cavalry had just beaten a very good MLS team.

“No one had to be motivated for this game. We all watched the Whitecaps game and we were thinking, ‘OK, we gotta be on our game today and we’re at home, so we want to put on a good performance for our fans,’” Sacramento said.

“We know they’re beatable. At the end of the day, with anyone in this league, the levels are not far off. It’s just that consistency and organization that they’ve figured out a little bit earlier than us. The points are good, but I think the chances were there for us to win the game.”

Sacramento definitely had more than one good chance to make it an uneven score in Valour’s favour. One of his shots was saved thanks to some quick work from Giantsopoulos, while another hit the goal post. Sacramento has been playing the past few games in his favoured position — as an attacking midfielder.

“I think that’s where I show my game and I can take risks on the half turn and shoot. Unfortunately, it hit the post today. I had a few other chances in transition, where I was good and able to get a shot off and help the team. Of course, wherever I play, I try to do my best. But that’s where I feel the most comfortable and I think it showed today,” Sacramento said.

Newcomer Michele Paolucci played for the first time in Valour colours, coming out briefly for the second half.

“You’ll see a lot more of (Paolucci), he was desperate to take that penalty, but Bustos is our penalty-taker, predetermined, so we wouldn’t let him have it. Marco was the man on the spot,” Gale said.

Valour’s next game is at IG Field on July 31 at 7 p.m., as they take on Pacific FC.

devon.shewchuk@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @devonshewchuk