Normally, Cowichan LMG would be glad to come home from Victoria with a single point, but last Friday’s 2-2 tie with Bays United at Oak Bay High was an exception.
“It kinda felt like we gave one away,” Cowichan head coach Glen Martin said. “A 2-2 tie on the road in Victoria is not really a bad result, but the way the game went down was disappointing”
The game certainly started in Cowichan’s favour, as they controlled the game with the minor exception of a defensive lapse around the five-minute mark that led to a huge save by goalkeeper Darian Achurch. Paddy Nelson scored his 10th of the season on a penalty shot around the 15-minute mark, and Cooper Barry made it 2-0 for Cowichan when he scored on a header off a corner kick at 23 minutes.
“We were really dominating play,” Martin said. “We felt a little too good about it all.”
Bays got on the board with a Cowichan own goal in the 38th minute, when the ball rolled along the goal mouth and was tipped in by Craig Gorman. The game went from looking like Cowichan might take a 3-0 lead into halftime into a close 2-1 battle.
“That really changed the game,” Martin commented. “It’s crazy how a thing like that can change the momentum.”
At the break, the Cowichan coaches and players thought they would be fine to just keep playing the way they were playing. Martin brought in Stevan Zorich and Tanner Dobson for Jose Muro and Jacob Ready. LMG just wasn’t prepared for what Bays brought to the pitch in the second half.
“They really came on,” Martin said. “They made some halftime adjustments, and that goal really lifted them.”
Cowichan was fortunate to give up just one goal, the tying marker in the 65th minute.
“Darian came out on a keeper’s ball and didn’t get there in time,” Martin reported.
Cowichan did have substantial chances to retake the lead, including two for Zorich and one each for Nelson, Gorman and Steve Scott, but couldn’t capitalize. The draw was Cowichan’s first in 25 league games. They had won 19 times and lost five since their last tie.
“We were a bit unlucky not to get the winning goal,” Martin said. “Maybe because they worked so hard.”
Martin liked the way his team opened the first half, something that hasn’t happened in every game this year.
“I was happy we got a good start,” he said. “We definitely came out better. We just didn’t come out in the second half better.”
Incidentally, Gorge lost to Nanaimo on Saturday, which put Cowichan and Gorge into a tie for first place in Div. 1. Had Cowichan held on to win on Friday, they would now be first in the league by two points.
That only adds to the drama of LMG’s next game as they face Gorge on the Hampton Park turf at 8 p.m. on Friday to battle for top spot.
If Cowichan and Gorge tie, which Martin admits is quite possible, and Nanaimo wins, all three teams would be tied for first.