The Daily Graphic —Aeros take draw with cards

BY KEITH BORKOWSKY

Southport Aeros’ Chad Green scored his team’s first goal in a 4-4 tie against Juve yesterday.
Staff photo by Keith Borkowsky

Southport Aeros experienced its first fan move of the game. But unlike the popular promotion, used by the Winnipeg Goldeyes to move select fans from cheap seats to prime seats, this one was ordered by a soccer referee twice in yesterday’s Manitoba Major Soccer League second division contest between Southport Aeros and Juve.

During the second half of the contest, which ended in a 4-4 draw, match referee Michael Bilenki asked the entire Southport fan base to move away from the bench area when fans verbally protested to a call he made. When it happened again later in the same half, the head official then stopped the game and demanded the same fans to move to the opposite side of the pitch, threatening to abandon the match if they did not comply.“To have our fan support moved, not once but twice, is an insult,” Southport Aeros coach Mitch Walker said after the game.

“Were they being disruptive of the match? No. Fans will jeer bad calls in any sport. The referee said he heard the fans taunting an injury to a player on the field. Who was taunting them?

“I’m not saying we didn’t say it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous on both sides of the ball.”


It was not the first time the referee’s judgment was called into question. After a penalty late in the second half, awarded to and scored by Juve striker Mentor Muccoli, Southport’s players headed back to kick off the ball. As Aeros forward Steve Wasyliw carried the ball up the pitch, a Juve player slapped it out of his hands. The match referee immediately flashed a yellow card, and appeared to caution the Juve player, who grimaced upon being informed of the call.

Later, on the game sheet, he issued the caution to Wasyliw. When Walker went to ask about the discrepancy, the referee told Walker the card was issued to Wasyliw.“If you were ever to use the word debacle in a story, this would be the time,” Steve Assenmacher, an injured Aeros goalkeeper, said of the decision. A verbal disagreement of those facts after the game resulted in Walker receiving a red card from the referee. Walker went to hand the referee his coach’s card, an administrative procedure required to process an ejection, but the referee refused to take it. Instead, he forced Walker to place the card on the ground and walk away before allowing an assistant referee to pick up the card.The incidents took away from a high-scoring contest, initially dominated by Juve. Muccoli scored the first goal of the game on a hard, well-placed shot out of the reach of Aeros’ call-up keeper Cory Thiessen about 10 minutes into the game.Chad Green then tied the contest on a corner kick 15 minutes later, hammering home a loose ball in front of the net.Muccoli struck again at the 30th minute. Wasyliw nearly tied it on a play set up by Ian McCallister, whose long run and hard shot was saved by Juve keeper Joe Dattero. The ensuing rebound went to Wasyliw, who headed it wide.“We’ve had trouble finding the net and finishing,” Walker said. “We had at least three chances in the first half. Guys were staring at an open net and were tapping it wide .... Some of the games we have been lackadaisical at the start. Maybe the cool weather helped, because we were better today.”Juve made it a 3-1 game early in the second half, when Enzo Cotrneo stormed through the Aeros defence and beat Thiessen.McCallister, whose hard work set up a number of Aeros’ chances, was rewarded for his efforts with a goal of his own at the 52nd minute. He took a Dave Roy pass and converted it for his team’s second goal.“He’s got some amazing speed, which we tried to utilize on the outside,” Walker said. “He’s been creating some scoring chances for himself and others. Tonight, he was rewarded with a goal of his own.”With momentum on Southport’s side, several scoring opportunities fell on Aeros’ boots, only to go unconverted.Midway through the second half, Southport striker Duane Chaves took a pass from Chris Carson and made it a 3-3 tie.A Juve foul against a Southport player inside the 18-yard box resulted in an Aeros penalty kick. Wasyliw out-guessed Dattero to put Southport ahead 4-3.“We showed some heart,” Walker said. “It’s disheartening on the sidelines to see a bad call. You get dejected, but we battled through that.” However, that lead was shortlived. A hand-ball by a Southport defender inside the 18-yard box gave Muccoli a chance for his hat trick. He put Juve back on even-footing to stay at 4-4.“It was a good game, a tough game,” Dattero said. “Our guys played well. We had a short bench and I felt we played well for having a short bench.“We needed (the tie) desperately. We’re at the bottom of the table, so any points we can get will help us.”

COSTLY LOSS -- Southport did not pick up any wins this weekend, dropping a 3-2 loss to Eritrean in Winnipeg.
Three Aeros players were lost in that game -- Danny Brooks and Steve Assenmacher were injured while Jay Barber picked up a red card, defending Brooks from an Eritrean player. “Everyone could see Danny was punched in the head,” Walker said. “Danny’s holding his head and the guy came back at him, whether to apologize or whatever and Jay pushed him away, saying: ‘You have no business here.’ Then Jay got the red card.”Duane Chaves and Steve Wasyliw provided the scoring.
INJURY CALL-UPS -- Aside from Thiessen, Glen McCulloch came up from Southport United to play for the Aeros yesterday.