Pacific FC likes to leave it to late. But not too late.
There seems to be a pattern emerging: Another Pacific FC game and another 1-0 victory on a late goal, the third such consecutive result for the Tridents.
This time it was a goal by Easton Ongaro at 79 minutes in the win over Valour FC of Winnipeg on Wednesday at Starlight Stadium.
It follows a goal at 85 minutes by Djenairo Daniels and Sean Young at 88 minutes in the respective 1-0 wins over Forge FC in Hamilton and York United on Sunday at Starlight Stadium.
“We want to settle things earlier but we’re getting the results. Sometimes you have to grind it out,” said Easton.
The breakthrough Wednesday, on a transition rush instigated by the crafty Dutch import Ayman Sellouf, came on PFC’s first good chance of the game.
“I just made the run and it [ball] was there,” said Ongaro, of Sellouf’s adroit assist pass.
Both players were second-half substitutes.
“Coming in 0-0, it’s the kind of opportunity you look forward to as a striker,” said Ongaro, an off-season signing by PFC after he terrorized CPL goalkeepers for three years with FC Edmonton.
Perhaps appropriately for the summer solstice, the game Wednesday felt like the longest game of the year for an out-of-sorts PFC squad. The Tridents were on two days rest, following Sunday’s 1-0 victory over York United, and played like it for much of the game. A swarming Valour defence extinguished any hint of a PFC attack before Sellouf and Ongaro finally unlocked the door, and were lucky not to combine for as second goal in the waning minutes.
“It’s not easy playing two games in four days but a lot of credit to the players. They found a way to win the game,” said Tridents head coach James Merriman.
The win extended PFC’s unbeaten streak to eight games and lifted the first-place Trident eight points clear atop the Canadian Premier League table on seven wins, one loss and three draws. The regular season matters in soccer with the league regular-season champion to join the playoff winner in the CONCACAF Champions League next season.
“We played a solid, professional game on the road for [80] minutes. But it’s still a loss and it hurts,” said Valour FC defender and former PFC stalwart Abdoulaye Samake.
“It’s a game of details and small mistakes.”
Valour FC was without star Pacifique Niyongabire as among six players from the CPL currently away with their national teams during the current international window. Niyongabire scored for Valour FC in the first meeting this season between the clubs, a 1-1 draw May 30 at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg.
“The guys were solid tonight until that goal,” said Valour FC head coach Phillip dos Santos.
“Unfortunately, we conceded at a time of the game that was critical.”
The Tridents are next at home to Atletico Ottawa on June 30.
CORNER KICKS: Attendance on Wednesday was 2,706 following the 3,236 in Sunday’s victory over York United … Rising Ottawa native and former CPL player with York United, 19-year-old Ronan Kratt, has made good on his six month trial and has moved permanently onto the rolls of major German club SV Werder. Bremen.
