View from the 18: Opening Week

We played a tough match up against a young athletic Ottawa City MR2 team.
We took the lead on a beautiful finish by Alex Astell and then we doubled that with a beautiful ‘curved in’ corner by Jahleel Baay.

Unfortunately our opponents were awarded a penalty kick followed by an unlucky bounce goal and a final 2-2 tie.

It was a great intro to our season!

Our ‘Player of the Game’ was Matt ‘da Hulk’ Fyfe who was a vocal beast on our back line.

First Half:
Westboro Wolves began the game with short passes and ball possession in the midfield, controlling the match. However, in the 17th minute, a Hornets striker scored with a shot from behind the penalty box. Just three minutes later, Hossein Zeyn Aghaji equalized following a penetration from the right side by Farbod Azimi and a cut back cross from Mostafa Taherian, bringing the score to 1-1 by halftime.

Second Half:
In the second half, despite Wolves continued pressure to secure the lead, a long cross, aided by strong winds in the stadium, changed direction and slipped from the hands of the Wolves goalkeeper, allowing the Hornets to score their second goal. The Westboro Wolves head coach attempted to turn the game around by switching to a 4-3-3 formation and bringing on Mohammad Ahmadi and Vahid Farhadi to strengthen the attack. However, the Hornets scored a third goal, dimming Wolves hopes of altering the outcome. The match ended with the Hornets securing a 3-1 victory.

In the second round of League play, our Westboro Wolves MR3 will face the Lynwood Wolves.

We saw a lot of inspired play under less-than-ideal conditions. I mean, if there’s a torrential downpour, it must be Tuesday.
But I didn’t hear too many complaints, just guys, some in fact, playing new positions, digging in and putting on a performance we should all be proud of.
The final score should not suggest that our opponents were not without some skill.
They managed to move the ball well, but our defenders stood tall and cleared their through balls out of harm’s way. I applaud our tenacity, we never gave up and we read the play well, often intercepting their passes and it led to several scoring opportunities.

It’s a long season. We started the way we envisioned. We’ll enjoy this victory
and strive to keep the momentum going.

Our ‘Players of the Game’ were Carlo,with 4 goals, Q, who potted 3, and Kevin who scored 1 and was a catalyst towards a lot of our on-field success.

Other goals scorers:

Dylan 1 (great run)
Hardy 1 (low laser)

With only 12 players and so many new faces it took some time for the team to gel, but by the end of the first half, the Wolves began to generate considerable chances. Still, it was 0-0 at the half.  Despite a clean sheet to that point, we swapped out Liam in goal, looking for a little more goal scoring touch. By the 2nd half, as Wolves began to pass and work better as a team, Perth United began to realize the daunting task ahead of them as a team promoted from OT3.  There were two goals in quick succession, which sunk the opponents and the game was killed off by Jeff Dennis, a threat all night, who chipped the ball into an open net after the keeper had given the ball away. A big 3-0 away win for the Wolves.

The story of the night was the Wolves newcomers. At the back end, Kris Corkum immediately formed a strong partnership with Mike Owen and it was a professional performance in shutting down the dangerous Z.  The slightly tardy Dymtro Khonko filled in at center half and then left back and almost had his first goal with the Wolves, connecting on a corner from Maaakkkk.

Christian Kperegbeyi’s quick feet were a handful for Perth all night, either in the middle or on the wing and he had a great cross to set up the winning goal.  Nicolas Guerrero displayed his versatility and agility, by playing at left back and then making some beautiful saves in the 2nd half to preserve the clean sheet.  And, finally, Peter Akpan, with his speed, was a threat all night.  After missing a few chances in the 1st half, he came good in the 2nd half, with 2 goals, earning ‘Player of the Game’.

Domenic Morgante’s absence meant that his traditional 1st post-game curtain raiser will have to wait.  Instead, Liam treated the lads to American beer (Bud and Miller style) and takeout pizza, notably picked up by Lloyd, in his last duties for the club.

A great start before we head into our home opener this Friday.

During halftime, the team discussed a new game plan. Our Wolves started strong and following a series of good scoring chances, Perparim Dauti sent a great pass to Q. Vuniqi who buried the ball into their net to tie the game. The second half was all Wolves and Faisal Boty gave us the lead with a beautiful free kick just outside the box.

The Wolves kept dominating the second half but unable to finish the game. Towards the end of the game, the Bears tied the game following a ping-ponging ball inside our box that we couldn’t clear. The result was 3-3 and Bryan Lefebvre, our goalkeeper, was the ‘Player of the Game’.

We feel that we should have won the game, but this was a solid effort for the first time our OT6 team has played together. Our next match will be at our home field, where we will face the Ottawa Korean Whitecaps.

While we did not get the result we were looking for (2-0 to the opposing team), there were lots of positives to build on. Apparently that will be one of the stronger teams we face, and for much of the game I was convinced it was just a matter to time before we took full control. Unfortunately injuries took their toll in the second half, to the point that our 17 bodies were reduced to 11 able to continue to play (and some of those staying on just because there were no subs available to come on). Nevertheless, we kept pushing right until the end and I am certain we will see much better results as we learn to play as a unit.

One for the history books… game night team photo on the occasion of our first Master games.

(Editor’s note: our very first Wolves Old-timers team was comprised of our eligible Men’s Rec players who has just turned 35. It was promise they made to each other. Some of these same players made another promise to reunite when they became eligible for Masters. This is heart-warming to me to see these players plus a lot of former Wolves returning to the Pack after so many years , as well as friends and family, and still maintaining their passion for this game.)

Congrats to our first ‘Player of the Game’, Doug Carnegie, who was part of a steady and solid defensive unit all night.