Mixed performances and results for Kickers-Carman Valley Leader

Mixed performances and results for Kickers

By Gene Still
Friday July 22, 2005 — A subpar performance added up to a point in the standings.But a significantly improved performance in another went unrewarded as far as moving up the Fourth Division soccer standings were concerned for the Carman Kickers. Kickers 1 Reservoir 1 Carman hit the road for Winnipeg on July 11 to take on the Reservoir Dogs. Kickers’ Coach William Hoogerdijk said they went into the match with high hopes because the Dogs were winless and mired near the bottom of the standings. However, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to gain three points in the standings with a victory, the visitors were forced to settle for a single point. That result was courtesy of a tie due to a gritty effort, by a determined Reservoir squad. “This should have been three points for us to take, but we weren’t able to do that,” Hoogerdijk said. “It’s an automatic thing that you think when you’re going up against the bottom teams in the standings.” However, right from the start, the visitors were in a battle with their opponents. “We made some head way into their zone and had a few scoring chances,” Hoogerdijk said about his club’s first half performance. “At the same time, we gave them too many opportunities to score themselves in the opening half.” Both clubs went into the intermission deadlocked in a scoreless tie. In the final half, it was Reservoir who got the evening’s opening goal with about 20 minutes left in the contest. It remained that way until the Kickers’ Adrian Fraijo evened things 10 minutes later. And while Carman did come on somewhat in the last part of the match, so did Reservoir. We picked it up a little and tried to get that last one in,” Hoogerdijk said. “But we also gave up a couple of good chances to them at the end of the game as well. So it could’ve gone either way.” The coach added, that they are capable of playing much better. “Overall, I wasn’t too impressed. We played well enough defensively that all we needed was our offense just to capitalize on one chance,” he said. Ragnarok 3 Kickers 0 Returning to friendlier confines of Carman Collegiate field featured a better on-field performance. But that improved play was not rewarded where it counts – on the scoreboard. Hoogerdijk said while they may have been shutout 3-0, it was actually a much better showing as compared to the Reservoir game. “We actually played well for the whole game. We may have lost 3-0 but after talking with most of our team afterwards, they were ‘happier’ about how they played,” Hoogerdijk said. “It’s just that we weren’t rewarded with any goals. “But there was a definite development in improving our play.” Ragnarok demonstrated why they’re among the top four teams in the league standings. They cashed in on the few scoring chances they had on this night. “We had three (defensive) lapses and they basically all went for goals,” Hoogerdijk said. Ragnarok led 1-0 at the half and fired home two more in the second half to go home with the shutout win. “We didn’t take advantage and they did. That was the difference,” Hoogerdijk said. Despite the loss, Carman remained in the final playoff spot. “We’re still clinging to eighth place so all is not lost,” he said. “There’s still a lot of games left to play but you’ve got to get points out them.” Kickers’ Notebook: Carman had a 2-4-1 mark and will have a busy couple of weeks with five games scheduled. On July 19 they were to head for the city to face Luisitania Revolution and on July 21 they were to entertain Southport. Results of those games were unavailable as of press time. In addition, on Saturday, July 23 they were to head for Winnipeg to meet the Kildonan Fusion and then on Monday, July 25 they were set to host Colo Colo. Finally it was back on the road as Carman was going to meet Ragnarok.back