Lukas MacNaughton, known over three seasons as Pacific FC鈥檚 most reliable and staunch defender, is described by head coach Pa-Modou Kah as the 鈥渂est centre-back in the league.鈥�
MacNaughton is also proving to have a sneaky offensive bent. He moved up to score in injury time, in the 92nd minute off a corner kick, to salvage a 1-1 Canadian Premier League draw against FC Edmonton on Tuesday night at Clark Stadium in the Alberta capital. MacNaughton also did the same last year in injury time in a game to earn a draw for PFC.
鈥淥n set pieces, Lukas is very dangerous,鈥� said Kah.
By design.
鈥淚 am up on every corner kick. It鈥檚 about getting bodies in the box,鈥� said MacNaughton.
鈥淚t [goal] doesn鈥檛 always happen. But I think we created a bunch of chances tonight. We鈥檙e in first place for reason. We鈥檙e never satisfied with a point. We鈥檙e looking for three points all the time.鈥�
Island-based PFC leads the CPL at 10-3-5 but the Eddies (in seventh place at 4-8-6) have played the Tridents tough with two draws in three games. But PFC turned it up a level in the second half Tuesday and finally broke through on its 11th corner kick of the game.
鈥淥verall, we controlled the game,鈥� said PFC head coach Kah.
鈥淲e showed great resilience and character. Even down 0-1, we were going for the win. 颅Basically, there was one team playing.鈥�
Even though FC Edmonton was clearly trying to protect its lead, that last remark did not sit well with Eddies head coach Alan Koch when informed of it following the game.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a disrespectful 颅comment,鈥� said Koch.
鈥淒ifferent teams play in 颅different ways. PFC is a step ahead of us at the moment. We are working hard to narrow the gap. We were so close once again.鈥�
The exchange of comments was startling in that Koch was formerly head coach of FC Cincinnati in MLS with Kah as his assistant coach and the two are very friendly.
Meanwhile, PFC has done a lot of things well this season. Tracking Easton Ongaro hasn鈥檛 been one of them. The six-foot-six FC Edmonton striker, who is hard to miss on the pitch, scored his league tied-for-second seventh goal of the season and third against PFC. Former Germany U-19 player and Dortmund 颅prospect Tobias Warschewski, dribbling down the right side, found Ongaro with a perfectly-laid centering pass at 57 minutes for the opening goal of the game.
Ongaro, a University of Alberta Golden Bears product, is one of two key hometown players on FC Edmonton. The other is Eddies captain Shamit Shome, who has two caps for sa国际传媒 and who played in Major League Soccer with Montreal Impact from 2017 to 2020,
Pacific FC will return home to meet last-place Atletico Ottawa on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Starlight Stadium.
