Thanksgiving is a time of generosity and giving. This Saturday, the heavens opened up and gave the Rinos as much rain as it could muster…i.e., the Rinos match was played through freaking hurricane Katrina like weather. Tonight, for the first time, skill wouldn’t separate winners from losers! This game was going to be won and loss in the trenches. This game was going to be decided by who had more grit and which team could get “fired-up” in the freezing rain to steal the W.
Before the referee could even start the game, the field was soaked, the players were soaked, the ball was a mess, and the rain wasn’t letting up. The match started with the Rovers attacking in swarms; their players would sail down the river they called their field and start peppering our goalie with shots that flew out of the muck like torpedos. The Rino’s defense had a hard time adjusting to the Rovers early in the match, but 10 minutes into the game we settled down and started shutting down their advances. With the defense able to stop the Rovers charges, we could finally start to generate our counter-attacks.
The Rinos mid fielders took charge of our counter attacks and, time after time, they were able to find Juan streaking in behind the Sapperton defense and generated numerous one-on-one situations for our strikers. However, these chances end with the ball hitting the fence behind the goal as mother nature screwed around with our strikers concentration. But, all the blame can’t be pushed to the rain, because this has become a recurring problem for these young Rinos; we just can’t seem to close the deal! The Rinos cannot score….whether this be a mental block or a physical one, it has led us to own a horrific goal differential and has put immense pressure on our goalie to pull clean sheets outta his ***!!
One of the key moments of the game involved Jordan crushing the Sapperton’s stopper when they both went up for a header in their 18 yr box. Jordan came in at a sprint and took off to put the header away, but instead met head on with their stopper, who then had to be helped off the field! Unfortunately, this collision stopped Jordan from heading the ball into the top corner of the net, but he still sent his message to the Rovers defense.
The “miss-play-of-the-game” honours were taken by our goalie, Anthony, on one his many determined efforts to ink in his 3rd clean sheet. After standing in the freezing rain for almost 90 minutes, Anthony got a bit too excited and a little loopy. He went after any ball as if it was a dry, warm snickers bar. On one ball that was sailing wide of the goal, Anthony tried to chase it down, only to have his feet run straight into his left post. Tripping over his feet like a drunken mess, he ended up face down in the watery hell that was all around us!
This match, unfortunately, ended just as it had started, 0-0. Huge disappointment?? Maybe….but walking away with 1 point and the confidence to know that we are creating legitimate chances to win games is more reassuring than the overall score. Slowly, but surely, the engine on these young Rinos is churning, and soon it’ll be firing on all cylinders…..just wait and see!
Next Saturday night the Rinos play UBC metro on the road in a game that has a bit of a personal feel to it. UBC signed two strikers that played for Rinos 21 squad last year and its time we show them what a big mistake that was!