Valour stung by Cavalry curse

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This article was published 04/09/2021 (1497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three years, seven matches, zero wins.

It’s safe to say Cavalry FC owns Valour FC.

Winnipeg’s soccer club lost yet again to the Calgary side Saturday night at IG Field as first-place Cavalry escaped with a 1-0 victory to improve their record to 9-4-3 on the year. The result drops fourth-ranked Valour to 7-1-8. The 2021 Canadian Premier League season features a 28-game schedule with the top four clubs advancing to a playoff. All signs point to Cavalry being the top seed heading into the post-season as they’re currently on a seven-game win streak.

Valour was once in first place with a 6-0-2 record at the end of the Winnipeg bubble, but since then, they’ve been on a bit of a slide.

Valour’s best result against Cavalry was a 1-1 draw back on July 27, 2019.

“We’ve obviously got something over them,” said Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

“They’ve had some good sides. They left the bubble here in their own place at the top of the table and deservedly so… We know they’re a good team. Rob Gale’s a terrific coach and he’s been in the game a long time… To be able to have the upperhand on them is good right now, but it’s a long season. There’s a lot of games to be played and we’ll be at each other’s throats.”

Valour hung with Cavalry for the entire match Saturday — unlike the result from two years ago almost to the exact day when Calgary’s club spanked Valour 8-0 at IG Field — but they just can’t seem to get over the hump.

“It’s frustrating, that’s probably the best phrase,” Valour head coach Rob Gale told reporters via Zoom in a brief post-game press conference.

Cavalry captain Nik Ledgerwood was asked how confident his team is when they see Valour on their schedule.

“Confident, not arrogant. I think we’re confident in what we know we can do, our ability, and what we’ve done throughout the last three years,” he said.

The difference Saturday was a first half turnover by Valour midfielder Daryl Fordyce just outside his team’s box that led to Cavalry’s Joe Mason getting one past Jonathan Sirois for the lone goal of the match. Ten minutes earlier in the 22nd minute, Valour had their best chance of the night when Keven Alemán had the ball at his foot in the box but was robbed by Cavalry keeper Marco Carducci. Carducci made three saves to pick up his fifth clean sheet of the season.

Cavalry only had two shots on target but won the possession battle at 58 per cent.

“The difference was just the goal. We should’ve dealt with it better, but we gifted them a goal and it was the difference of the game,” Fordyce said in a phone interview.

“Not too many complaints, but we have to look at ourselves and take the blame ourselves for gifting them an easy goal. I don’t think (Mason) has scored an easier goal in his career.”

The turnover was backbreaking, but the story of the night was all the yellow laundry on the pitch. There were 11 yellow cards handed out — five of which were dealt out for dissent — in total between the two teams. It was a chippy game with several aggressive tackles from both sides.

“Whatever’s thrown at us, we’ll take it and deal with it. Valour on the other side of things, they were more worried about talking about stuff and talking the whole game,” Ledgerwood said.

“In my mind, they got a lot of other stuff besides talking. I don’t think they’ve beaten us once in three years.”

The head official seemed a bit eager to whip out a card at times, but Fordyce had nothing negative to say.

“I’m not going to complain about the referee’s decisions. There were a few tough tackles tonight. It’s just one of those things,” said the Valour captain.

“I’m not going to sit here and say much about the referee because we have to do better ourselves. It was a tough game to referee, to be honest. If I was a referee in that game I would’ve found it tough.”

Valour will aim to get back on track Tuesday at home against FC Edmonton (3-5-9).

“We’ve just got to keep going,” Fordyce said.

“That’s twice we’ve lost 1-0 to Cavalry (this season)… But we just have to dust ourselves off.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31