Late goals propel Kickers to victory-Carman Valley Leader

By Gene Still

Friday September 09, 2005

Carman Valley Leader — The Carman Kickers continued their quest to secure a post season berth in the Fourth Division of the Manitoba Major Soccer League. Carman headed into their August 31 match-up with the Reservoir Dogs actually sitting in ninth place overall, just a point out of the eighth and final playoff spot. And the Kickers made the most of their opportunity and thanks to a pair of second half tallies, emerged with a narrow 2-1 victory over the Dogs. The triumph meant that Carman actually jumped – at least temporarily – into sixth place with the three points they earned for the victory. Winds, at times in excess of 50 kmh, made for less than ideal playing conditions. Not helping the home team’s cause was the fact that, fresh off an impressive 0-0 draw with the second place Rangers, Carman came out with a less than inspiring performance during the first portion of their contest with Reservoir. “We seemed to be giving up a few too many (scoring) chances,” said Kickers’ Coach William Hoogerdijk. “I was a little disappointed at the end of the first half. We let them take the play to us.” But Carman was not penalized on the scoresheet as both teams went into the intermission scoreless. Hoogerdijk said one of the keys to opening half was that the visitors were taking charge of the midfield area. And that’s something he discussed with his players during the break. “We talked about the fact that when you control midfield, you generally end up having the majority of offensive chances,” he said. The coach said the adjustments paid off in the final frame both on the field and when it came to scoring. Jordan Vanderveen gave the host squad a 1-0 lead with 25 minutes remaining in regulation time. But Carman let up slightly and it cost them as Reservoir knotted things again about five minutes later. However, instead of getting rattled and folding, the Kickers’ regrouped and were rewarded for their efforts as Joel Bilodeau’s marker with around 12 minutes left in the game, turned out to be the eventual game winner. Hoogerdijk said the Dogs applied some pressure but Carman held on for the victory and all important three points in the standings. The triumph left the Kickers two points ahead of Reservoir and Colo Colo. However, both teams have games in hand, one and two contests respectively. Carman is also a single point up on the Kildonan Fusion but they too, have a single game in hand. Hoogerdijk said they will need some help from other teams to make the post season. However, he has been encouraged by how the Kickers have been improving, especially during this mini-stretch run leading up to their final regular season match on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. when they host the Lusitania Revolution. “It’s not exactly that everything is clicking completely together against all the teams. But we’re doing better and better,” he said. “It would be nice to get some help (other teams beating Colo Colo, Reservoir and/or Kildonan) but the best thing we can do now is just go out and focus on beating Lusitania.”