It only counts as a tie in the standings, but it could mean a lot to the Mid Isle FC Highlanders.
The region’s Pacific Coast Soccer League men’s reserve squad tied Victoria United 2-2 on Sunday at Merle Logan Field. Mid Isle FC earned the result thanks to a goal in the dying seconds of injury time.
Colin Knight scored the tying goal on a cross that sailed over the opposing goalkeeper and into the corner of the net. It came with all of Mid Isle FC’s forces up pressing offensively.
“We played well. We should have put the game away in the second half … We let them come at us,” said Bill Merriman, the team’s coach.
Dylan Mans opened the game’s scoring on a penalty kick in the first half and then the visitors tallied twice midway through the second half.
Merriman said his guys will be able to take a lesson out of Sunday’s game.
“I think it does a lot, especially for the younger guys because this whole program is building for the future and for them to see what it takes.”
Other teams in the league have games in hand on Mid Isle FC (4-1-3), but at the moment the side is in first place in the table.
“I’m happy with it. I think we’ve done well,” said Merriman. “We’ve played some very close games, we’ve got a couple ties now that we maybe should have won.”
He said the offence, led by Keegan Lang, still has potential to really get going, and the defence will be bolstered by the return of team captain Dan Cato.
“We’re doing great,” said Knight. “We’ve had a couple games where we deserved to win but we lost points, but we’ve had other ones where we all game together and we ended up beating [strong teams].”
SOCCER TALK … For another photo from the game, please click here … The team’s next game isn’t until July 6, when it hosts the Abbotsford Mariners at 2:30 p.m. at Merle Logan Field … Mid Isle FC’s women’s side hosts Kelowna United on Saturday (June 22) at 4 p.m. at the Ladysmith turf field.
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