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Disappointing draw for Cowichan LMG

2-0 lead over Powell River vanishes in the span of seven minutes
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Cowichan LMG’s Colin Knight battles a Powell River player for the ball during the teams’ meeting at the Sherman Road turf last Sunday afternoon. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

It’s been said many times before that a 2-0 advantage is one of the worst leads in soccer.

Cowichan LMG showed why that’s true last Sunday afternoon when they took a two-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of their Div. 1 men’s match at the Sherman Road turf only to end up tied 2-2 with a Powell River Villa team that is battling to avoid relegation.

“Definitely not the outcome we were looking for or should be getting,” Cowichan coach Ryan Flynn said. “It was pretty disappointing, to tell the truth.”

As often happens with a two-goal lead, especially against a weaker opponent, Cowichan went into autopilot down the stretch.

“Once you get up 2-0 on a team you should be beating, you kind of switch off,” Flynn said. “Guys are thinking they can cruise to victory. But in Div. 1 soccer, teams take advantage when they can.”

Blaze Robert opened the scoring in the 57th minute and Dan Citra scored the second goal eight minutes later. Powell River answered back in the 71st and 78th minutes.

“We played well for 70 minutes,” Flynn said. “Then we had a couple of mental lapses or coaching errors, like changing stuff up at the half when I probably shouldn’t have, although on paper it looked like the better move.”

Flynn tabbed Citra and Mateo Kostering for their solid play in the draw.

The team trained on Monday, an unusual step the day after a game, but Flynn wanted to move on from the disappointing result.

“We’ve got a tough stretch of four or five games coming up, [The tie] doesn’t put us in the right mindset.”

In Div. 3, Cowichan Oak FC also played to a 2-2 draw, their tie coming on the road against JDF Kings.

Jacob Ready scored on a header off a corner kick in the 16th minute, but JDF took advantage of some sloppy defence to answer back a minute later. JDF took the lead with a goal against the run of play in the 55th minute, but this time it was Cowichan’s turn to respond immediately as Evan Tolfo tapped the ball in from close range following an error by the JDF keeper. Luca Klotz had a chance to put The Oak back in front in the 88th minute, but the ball was cleared off the line.

The Oak will play their last home league game of the season at 4 p.m. this Saturday against Castaways.

In Div. 4, the Cowichan Fury played to a 2-1 loss to Fernwood in Victoria last Sunday. Niall Flynn scored in the 87th minute to tie the game for Cowichan, but Fernwood managed to add one more before time expired.



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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