Kickoff: 12:00 pm Saturday, October 2nd at Andy Livingstone East
Rino’s “B” team faced off against arch-rival Westside FC “B” on Saturday without inspirational captain Vinny Martin. After being on stellar form for the first 3 matches of the season, Vinny was rewarded with an invitation to go on a trek to North Surrey with the “A” team as they faced off against Desmesh FC. Stepping up to fill the vacancy was former goalkeeper-turned defender, Stefan Caulfield, who started the game in the heart of the defense.
A 4-4-1-1 formation was employed, and Rino’s started brightly with the returning Tim Pritchard causing Westside’s defence fits with his pace. A nice bit of build up lead to Chris Thompson flashing a shot just wide from the top of the box, and the teams were taking turns going on the offensive. Unfortunately this was as good as it got for Rino’s men in the first half. A lack of marking in the midfield, combined with a string of turnovers including a botched short corner-kick lead to too many Westside
attacks and finally culminated in a goal.
It was almost inevitable that a goal would be scored as Westside attacked down the left and Caulfield uncharacteristically took a tumble, allowing the opposition an odd-man rush. As the remaining defenders squeezed over, the ball was laid back across the penalty area where the Westside midfielder had a free strike on goal. To everyone’s surprise the shot rebounded off the post and when Rino’s Under 21 alumnus, Michael Honey, corralled the rebound and flopped to the ground under Crompton’s panicked challenge, the referee awarded Westside a penalty kick. Honey himself stepped up to the spot, and his scuffed shut was fortunate to find the back of the net with Henrique de Sousa diving the wrong way.
Half-time brought a number of substitutions, and none shone brighter in the second half than Yuda Shih. He used his pace to repeatedly terrorize Westside’s left-back, and if only his crosses were a little more precise the team may have reaped the rewards of a goal. Also entering the midfield at the halfway mark, Declan Hill showed off his passing precision as he sprayed the ball about and helped to open up the Westside defense. Unfortunately, the next goal came against the run of play, as some lax marking by Rino’s back-line afforded the aforementioned Michael Honey too much time and space and he again found the back of the net.
Rino’s continued to push forward in search of a goal, and while they had few clear cut opportunities did manage to play in some dangerous crosses and were awarded numerous corner kicks. On one corner kick, which the opposition failed to clear, Ashkan Khosrovi, who was recently re-introduced into the game took matters into his own hands as he jinked past a couple of defenders and smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
Rino’s played the remaining 10 minutes with 3 forwards, but the offensive push was too little, too late and the final whistle sounded with the scoreline reading 2-1 in favour of Westside.
Team: Henrique De Sousa, Khosrovi(Simey 45), Caulfield, Chow(Khosrovi 75), Crompton(McArthur 45, Ardila Garcia 82), Thompson(Shih 45), Arceneaux, Nolan(Hill 45), Ford(Cougny 45), O’Genski(Jinks 67), Pritchard(Crowe 45)