A Nice winning goal gave Vernon Kal Tire a 2-1 win over Kelowna Soccer United in Capri Insurance Okanagan Oldtimers 45+ Soccer League action Monday, June 24, in Lake Country in what was described as a scrappy, strong, physical game.
With the game tied 1-1, the tiremen controlled much of the second half and were rewarded when John Orton’s flick ball landed at the feet of Jeff Nice, who made no mistake in beating the keeper.
Vernon opened the scoring at the 30-minute mark when Ruben Cervantez beat his marker, found Orton who passed it through to Mark Wasylyk who remained calm and rounded the keeper to put the ball into the net.
Soccer United answered just before half time after a great exchange of passes and a deft finish by one or their forwards.
Kal Tire game MVP Chad Bennet worked his tail off and came close to scoring on several occasions.
READ ALSO: Kal Tire cruises in 45+ men’s soccer
Elsewhere:
PENTICTON 4 VS KELOWNA MIND SMART 3
Penticton got two goals Ben Cougny and singles from Jon Padgett and Carlos Mendonca in the victory.
BROWN BENEFITS 3 INTERIOR BEVERAGES 1
Tim Austen scored the only goal of the first half when he fired a shot into the side netting from just inside the box. Both keepers made great saves to hold the score until the break.
In the second half, Interior tied the game when Roland Guebert sprung the offside trap and his shot found the bottom corner. Moments later, a foul in the box gave the Browns a penalty shot and Chris Young went bar down to restore the lead. A breakaway by Interior’s Sam Kimpian was expertly saved by Gord Regan to deny the tying goal. With 15 minutes to go, Austen then cushioned a header into the path of Tony Gonzales who slid it past the keeper for the insurance marker.
REAL JVL 3 BRANDT’S CREEK PUB 2
JVL came out flying and on the back of some crisp passing and unusually composed finishing found themselves up 2-0 after 20 minutes after goals by Rickard Branby and Randy Schmidt. JVL added another just before the half when Branby’s cross was headed into the Brandt net for an own goal. It was indeed a “nice finish” as one Brandt player sardonically remarked.
A neutral observer might have intuited that the rout was on but the second half was a much tighter affair. A straight red for a slide tackle early on meant that Brandt’s were playing with 10 men, but this galvanized them and they began to press JVL. They scored a nice goal on the counter by Keith Seager and then added a second when a clumsy tackle by Schmidt (apparently eager to make up for his sweet finish in the first half) led to a PK, converted by Drew Denis. This woke JVL up and they settled down and saw out the rest of the match.
MISSION CLEANERS 3 MABUI 0
After a relatively close back and forth match, Mission Cleaners went ahead on a penalty shot after Gigi Moldovan was taken down in the box. Near the end of the half, the Cleaners doubled the score when, from a sharp angle, Luke put the ball past Mabui’s keeper.
Mission Cleaners moved the ball well and had a number of chances but were thwarted by mabui’s defence, and the Cleaners’ keeper, though not tested often, did make a few spectacular saves.
Mabui ran low on gas playing with only one sub and numerous injuries and in the end could not stem the Mission attack, andsurrendered one more goal after the ball ping-ponged in front of Mabui’s goal and was converted to a goal by Jim Hutchinson.
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