Carman Kickers fall to Southport United

Carman Kickers fall to Southport United


By Gene Still
Friday July 14, 2006

Carman Valley Leader — The end result may have been the same as their previous three defeats, but the Carman Kickers could not be accused of getting off to a slow start.
"They did much better in the first half. They were really strong," said Kickers' Coach William Hoogerdijk.
Carman hosted Southport United on July 6 and came out on the losing end of a 3-0 final.
Despite the loss, Kickers' Coach William Hoogerdijk said the club actually got off to a solid start in the opening half battling Southport to a scoreless tie at the break. What made that performance even more impressive was the fact Carman played the entire contest short one player.
"It's not that we didn't create. We had our chances in the first half," Hoogerdijk said. "But we played the whole game a man down so by the second half we started to get a little tired.
"But the guys played a heckuva game. They worked well."
However Southport got the contest's opening goal about thirty seconds into the second half and that seemed to deflate the undermanned Kickers.
"It kind of set the guys back because we played so well in the first half," he said. "That first goal hurt us a bit."
And that turned out to be the game winner as Southport added two more markers in the final 25 minutes of regulation to secure the victory.
Carman lose for the second straight time by a 3-0 final, but the coach said defense isn't his major worry.
"Defensively, it doesn't look good when you lose 3-0 and 3-0. But defense hasn't really been the concern. It's more about getting rewarded on offense. We need to cash in when we get a chance to score," Hoogerdijk said. "We definitely have got to fine tune part of the offense because we might be pressing too much and maybe need to relax a little when we get a good shot.
"We're creating chances but we've got to start capitalizing on them so it shows up on the scoreboard."
Kickers notebook: The loss dropped the Kickers' record to 2-5 and tied for last place in the Black conference. Carman's next home appearance is at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17 when the St. James Hurricane come to town.