Valour FC fit to be tied once again

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This article was published 31/07/2019 (2572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now that’s how you make a strong first impression.

And that’s how you make a triumphant return.

Still, despite an early goal and some late-game heroics from their returning star player, Valour FC left IG Field Wednesday night with a 2-2 tie against the visiting Pacific FC in front of 5,411 fans.

It’s Valour’s third tie in four games, as the team is now 0-1-3 in the Canadian Premier League fall season. Pacific is now 1-3-1.

“I think it’s frustrating because we need a win,” said Valour midfielder Michael Petrasso, who came off the bench and tied the game in the 90th minute on a penalty shot. “We just need that switch, that result just to come so things can start flowing. It’s the start of the fall season and we got three good ties against good opposition so I think once we get that win, it’s going to start coming now.”

Petrasso entered the game in the 58th minute, making his first appearance since June 12 when he went down with a Grade 3 groin tear in a match against HFX Wanderers FC.

But the former Montreal Impact player looked as though he hadn’t missed a beat as Petrasso quickly showed why Valour missed him so much by generating several scoring chances towards the end of the match.

“I think it was just more eagerness. You know, watching for eight weeks and coming out there,” the 24-year-old Petrasso said. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’m really that fit after only training once this week. But I just felt the adrenaline rush and watching on the sideline, especially when we were down 2-1, that’s when I started warming up at half ’cause I wanted to let the coach know I’m ready to come out and make a difference.”

Petrasso scored late, with Valour earning the penalty when defender Skylar Thomas was being held in the box on a free kick in the 89th minute. But it was Italian striker Michele Paolucci who scored early for Valour.

Paolucci, 33, was making his first career start in Valour colours after signing with the club two weeks ago. He was brought in to help the team with their scoring woes and he wasted no time doing so as he found the back of the net less than four minutes into the game. He was fouled outside the 18-yard box to set up a Marco Bustos free kick. Bustos’ kick was deflected off the post and Paolucci jumped on the rebound. Paolucci also had a diving header hit the post in the 58th minute.

“I’m very happy because it was a great start for me and for the team,” said Paolucci, who joined Valour from a club in the Maltese Premier League. “Maybe it was a bit lucky, but it was off of instinct. But I gave the luck back in the second half when I hit the post… but this is football.”

“I think it’s frustrating because we need a win. We just need that switch, that result just to come so things can start flowing’– Valour midfielder Michael Petrasso, one of the goal-scorers

Even with Paolucci’s early tally, Pacific headed into the half with a 2-1 lead.

Valour defender Adam Mitter cleared a shot attempt off the goal-line, but the ball landed at the feet of Pacific midfielder Ben Fisk and he buried it to tie the match 1-1 in the 24th minute.

Pacific claimed the lead in the 43rd minute off a corner kick as Lukas Macnaughton’s header hit Valour keeper Tyson Farago in the hands and trickled in.

“We lost their marker and then Tyson will probably want that one back,” said Valour head coach Rob Gale. “But he’s been playing through an injury to be fair. With Mathias (Janssens) not being ready, he’s had to go through the pain barrier with his finger a little bit and I think a stronger hand normally would’ve kept that one out.”

A silver lining in the tie for Valour is for the first time since their season opener on May 1, the Winnipeg team has scored more than a single goal in a game. It’s an annoying stat that Valour will no longer have to answer to after every disappointing result.

“I don’t look at it as a dark cloud or negativity because that’s not our personality,” Gale said when asked if it’s a relief to put an end to the streak. “It’s not what we know we’ve got in the group. But for sure, just that mental side for the players and the release and relief of doing that (is important).”

But there’s still an ugly stat attached to Valour. It’s the fact they haven’t gotten a win in their past 10 matches.

Although they’ve shown signs of improvement so far in the fall campaign, they still find themselves in the basement of the CPL standings with only three points.

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“Absolute frustration,” Gale said. “We start well. We execute the game plan. We’re absolutely on top and we give away goals. We’ve done it all season at home. We let a team in it without making them earn it.”

Valour will begin an intense August schedule that features six games in 24 days on Monday when they head to Halifax to take on HFX Wanderers FC.

“We got turn minimum rewards into three points and get climbing the table because our football deserves it,” Gale said.

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.