There wasn’t much to say about Cowichan LMG’s victory over Powell River Villa at the Sherman Road turf on Sunday afternoon.
If you ask Cowichan head coach Glen Martin, at least.
“You can classify it as an uneventful, lacklustre 2-0 win,” Martin said.
Both soccer teams were missing players, Cowichan’s play wasn’t particularly inspired, and there weren’t even any cards handed out. The closest the game came to bringing fans to the edges of their seats was when the Powell River goalkeeper accidentally punched his own teammate in the head late in the first half, although that led to a long delay in the game as the player’s health was assessed.
“That killed the game a bit,” Martin noted. “We lost our momentum.”
Earlier in the half, Russell Lederer had opened the scoring at 12 minutes, taking advantage of one of several scoring chances he had in the match. Joel Harry, moved up to striker from his usual defensive position, scored Cowichan’s second goal at 51 minutes. Both goals were the players’ first of the season.
Martin gave credit to the hard-working Powell River team for their play in the loss.
“They had a good strategy,” he said. “They had a depleted lineup so they just sat back and defended and hoped they got lucky on a counterattack if they could.”
Martin felt his team got “lazy” down the stretch.
“We gave the ball away in the second half and gave them chances to score,” he said.
Cowichan was missing four starters, including strikers Blaze Roberts — who has scored half the team’s goals this season — and Craig Gorman, centre midfielder Kevan Brown and defender Adyn Lamont. Darian Achurch earned his third clean sheet in a row, and Keevan Webb and Jordan Korven were standouts on the Cowichan defence.
“It wasn’t a great effort all-around,” Martin assessed.
Cowichan will need a better effort this Friday when they play host to Bays United at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s quite a difference in pace,” Martin said. “We’ve got to be ready for that.”
Cowichan and Bays are tied for second in Div. 1 with 17 points, one back of Lakehill. The top teams are entering a key stretch of the Vancouver Island Soccer League season.
“Between now and Christmas is the time we can either win the league or lose it,” Martin said. “It’s make or break, but we’ll take it one game at a time.”
