Aeros charred by Spitfire grill - DAILY GRAPHIC

Aeros charred by Spitfire grill

BY JOEY PAYEUR

Friday July 29, 2005

SOUTHPORT — One shudders to think what would have happened if Spitfire F.C. had had all hands on deck for the entire game.Though the Winnipeg squad was two men short for the entire first half and faced a barrage of shots from Southport Aeros, the host side survived to take a 1-0 lead into half-time before scoring twice after the break to cruise to a 3-1 win in Second Division action in Manitoba Major Soccer League.Southport (3-6-3, 12 points) will see its eight-game winless streak (0-5-3) end officially tonight by no doing of its own.Chilean Selects (2-9-1), against whom the Aeros picked up their last win on June 6 in a 4-2 victory, announced their intention last night to default tonight’s scheduled rematch at Southport Recreation Centre, handing the Aeros an automatic 3-0 victory. That moves them into an eighth-place tie with IPAC Ukraine (3-5-3), which holds a game in hand on Southport.But back to the Spitfire situation, and what might have been.“The play was all in their end, and we had five or six glorious chances to score,” said Aeros player/coach Danny Brooks, pointing to Ben Wettlaufer’s missed penalty shot in particular, which the rookie Aeros forward sent wide of the net.“We did everything but score. Then in the second half, their players started filing in slowly, and when they got their 11th man with 15 or 20 minutes to go, they got two goals on us in a hurry.”Spitfire (7-1-1), which sits in a tie for second in Second Division with 22 points, connected for its only goal of the first half against the Aeros on a play Brooks wishes he had back again.“There was some sloppy defence on the part of me and Cam (Scott),” said Brooks, who couldn’t prevent the Spitfire attacker from beating Aeros goalkeeper Bill Maluzynsky. “But, really, even with that, it still should have been 5-1 for us at the half. Their last two goals were soft, fluky goals.”Bringing some sunshine into Southport’s gloom was Duane Chaves, who in his second game back since recovering from life-threatening injuries in a May 6 work accident, connected off a deflected free kick for his first goal of the year in the final minutes of the contest.“Duane had a pretty good game,” said Brooks. “He had lots of chances to score.”The Aeros return to action on Tuesday, when they head to Winnipeg to tackle the sixth-place Kildonan Cavaliers (5-3-1, 16 points, sixth place). Southport’s next home game is on Aug. 10 against the Cavaliers.