Oct 15 Gorge FC v Cowichan

Gorge FC 3 - 3 Cowichan Valley




Cowichan scored a second half equalizer coming back from being down 3-1 to salvage a point out of this lively encounter.

Pre-game warmups.

You quickly had the feeling as this game got underway that we were often playing against 12 men. I lost count on the amount of fouls called against Gorge FC, one leading directly to Cowichan's second goal just a minute before the half. If anything, I found a number of our players not being their normal aggressive selves. It was not only a case of soft calls going against us, but many calls being completely wrong. Also, the ref for some reason was calling 45 minute halves (which Jordy straightened out in the second half). As I am generally not one to complain about a referee, now that I have that off my chest I will continue.
The early part of the game had both teams playing some pretty ugly soccer. There was no flow to the play and mistakes were being made in various parts of the field. As the game settled into its pace, Cowichan struck for the first goal. On 23 minutes, a quick throw in near the end line saw a Cowichan player unmarked come into the 6 yard box to beat Steve on the far side.

(What is missing in this picture? Any white jersey's around?????)

Shortly after, Coach Danny made some key substitutions and RJ, Russell and Mateusz entered the game. I don't know what they had for breakfast, but when I find out it will be standard fare for the whole team next game. At the 28 minute mark, a corner from the left from Russell landed for RJ to pound it in. Before you knew it, a free kick from Russ saw a number of players scramble in the box to finish it only to have Mateusz sliding in to touch it home.
A mere two minutes later at the 33 minute mark had Mateusz winning a midfield battle to send a nice pass to Russ on the right, who crossed it into the box for RJ to expertly rise up and head it home. Within 5 minutes, we were up 3-1.
At the 44 minute mark, the above mentioned free kick awarded to Cowichan was sent across the box for the Cowichan player to blast it through Steve's hands. The first half ended 3-2 in Gorge's favour.
The second half saw a lot of good back and forth forays as Cowichan has improved their defense and added a very tough, solid striker up front. Unfortunately, almost every challenge was met with a whistle and mostly in Cowichan's favour, leading to numerous free kicks in scoring range.
At the 70 minute mark, another rush into our zone had their new striker blasting a pass into the box for a Cowichan striker to deflect in. A couple more unsuccessful probes into the Cowichan zone saw the referee's whistle end a shortened second half with both teams claiming a point.

Notes: We were missing Tom in the back end. It was shorts weather. Cowichan has improved from last year. We are still on top via goal differential and still undefeated. Mark's scoring streak was stopped at 4 games.