Kickoff: 4:00pm Saturday, October 9th at Point Grey Turf

On Thanksgiving long weekend, an understaffed CAT side took the field against a young reserve team from Croatia SC. The game was played in torrential rain, and that combined with the general clumsiness of many of the Croatia players lead to some pretty woeful tackles, none of which were even cautioned by the Eastern European referee.

Early in the match Croatia missed an opportunity to jump out to a shock lead as a missed header in the Rino’s backline allowed them to play a ball across the box to a wide open left winger, who with the net gaping wide open duly smashed the ball off the outside of the post! This served as a wake up call to the Rino’s as they started attacking in waves. If it were not for the heroics of Croatia’s pint-sized, rotund goalkeeper, they would have surely been behind by halftime. Instead Rino’s strikeforce was left wondering just what it would take to find the back of the net.

The second half was dominated by Rino’s, as any time Croatia entered their half they were dispossessed by the likes of Stefan, Sam, and Ashkan. So comfortable were they in fact, that Sam was often seen pushing up the field ahead of the midfielders in search of the elusive goal. Far from a thing of

beauty, the goal finally came when 2nd half substitute Vinny Martin (who came directly from playing in the 2pm Div 1 game) sliced a cross in front of the net and it was poked home by another substitute, Gowan Gillis. Despite further pressure, including some free kicks in dangerous areas, Rino’s were unable to score again and settled for the 1-nil victory. The win evened their record after 5 games at 2-1-2.

Team: Henrique De Sousa, Khosrovi, Caulfield, Chow, Jinks(Nolan 80), Crompton(Ford 45), Shih(Freedman 70), Hill, Wilhelm(Martin 45), Nolan(Kaplan 45), Pritchard(Gillis 55)

Kickoff: 12:00 pm Saturday, October 2^nd 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)