Carman Valley Leader - Kickers still looking to get back on a winning track

By Gene Still —

William Hoogerdijk hopes this isn’t a case of deja vu. Last year, a late season slide in the standings ended up costing the Carman Kickers’ a playoff spot in the Manitoba Soccer League’s Fourth Division. And while, as of press time, Carman is in a playoff position sitting in seventh place, the coach is concerned because the club has only has a tie to show for their last three games. On August 5 the Kickers were shutout 2-0 in Portage la Prairie by the host team from Southport. And they followed up that defeat with another on August 12 at Carman Collegiate Field. The loss to the Rangers from Winnipeg, came despite the fact that Carman opened the scoring just before the ten minute mark of the opening half. Kickers’ striker Lyle Vanveen drove straight down the middle to create a scoring opportunity. And after taking advantage of a Rangers’ defensive miscue, Vanveen scored on a header from a sharp angle to make it 1-0 for the host squad. However Carman was unable to hang onto the lead as the visitors tied it 1-1 just 15 minutes later. And the score remained that way at halftime. Despite surrendering the lead, Hoogerdijk wasn’t too discouraged because of the way Carman played during the opening half. “It went back and forth but I really thought it was our game to win,” Hoogerdijk said. However, after a fairly solid start to the final half, as play wore on, the Rangers started to take over the contest. “We started off pretty well in the second half but our play kind of dropped off. We seemed to be very hesitant and maybe showed them too much respect,” he said. “You’ve got to play aggressive – with discipline – in this game. When you’ve got that balance, you can dictate the flow.” That failure to ‘play aggressive’, proved costly as the Rangers scored what turned out to be the winning goal on a penalty kick with about 15 left in regulation. They put the game out of reach with an insurance tally with five minutes remaining to earn a 3-1 win. The defeat dropped Carman’s record to 6-8-3. He isn’t necessarily pressing the panic button, but the coach said they need to start adding to their victory column if they want to ensure a post season berth. When Carman hit the field last Wednesday evening to host Euro, a club that is chasing them in the standings, it was a slightly better result as the two teams battled to a 2-2 draw. Euro actually started the opening ten minutes shorthanded as a few of their players were late showing up. However, while they worked hard, the Kickers were unable to capitalize. “We played well – moved the ball well,” Hoogerdijk said. “But they started getting their guys back and at the middle of the (opening) half they got a break and scored. “After that, things didn’t look to great for us, they kept coming at us.” But the coach made a few adjustments and Carman started to press the attack by taking a few more chances on offence. “Sometimes the best defense is a good offence,” Hoogerdijk explained. And that attitude seemed to pay off on the scoreboard as striker Lyle Vanveen tied the game with about eight minutes remaining before intermission as his shot bounced off a Euro defender into their own net. Carman took advantage of the intermission to regroup even more. “We didn’t necessarily dominate offensively, but we shut them down defensively and that paid off with some offensive chances,” Hoogerdijk said. But their efforts went unrewarded as it was Euro who regained the lead about 25 minutes into the final frame. “For a while the guys were a little dejected because we had been playing well but they were the ones who got the goal,” he noted. The Kickers didn’t fold and eventually rebounded and their work paid off as Jordan Vanderveen tied the match with only eight minutes left. After that, Carman kept up the pressure but just couldn’t get the winning goal. “A tie is better than a loss,” Hoogerdijk said. “(But) we’ve got to get wins – it’s as simple as that. “We’ve got four games left and we know there are other teams that we’re battling for a playoff spot with, that have some games in hand.”