It was a game of dramatic swings as Pacific FC rued blowing a two-goal first-half lead in falling behind against Cavalry FC before lauding its own fortitude in rallying for a 3-3 Canadian Premier League draw Thursday night before 3,117 fans at Starlight Stadium.
“Obviously being up two, we’re disappointed. But we showed character to come back in the end,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
The game had just about everything, including both teams going down to 10 players following concurrent red cards issued to Manny Aparicio of PFC and former PFC and sa国际传媒 U-23 player David Norman Jr. of Cavalry FC at 29 minutes.
Dutch-import Djenairo Daniels and Gianni dos Santos, who last month earned his first cap for Cape Verde in a credible 1-0 loss to 2022 World Cup-bound Ecuador in Miami, gave PFC the two-goal lead. But a goal by Daan Klomp, another Dutchman, four minutes into injury time at 49 minutes was an indication this evening was far from over. And everybody in sports knows the adage about goals scored just before period of half-time breaks. Jose Escalante at 50 minutes and league second-leading scorer Aribim Pepple’s sixth goal of the season at 56 minutes put Cavalry FC ahead. A header by Alejandro Diaz, off a free kick at 74 minutes, pulled PFC level.
“We have to take care of the [2-0] advantage and learn from that but we ended up strong and that’s what we needed,” said Diaz, who scored his CPL-leading seventh goal.
The defending CPL-champion Tridents, however, have not won in eight games with four losses, including three in league and one in Canadian Championship play on penalty kicks, and four league draws.
Pacific FC did break its three-game scoring drought in a significant way in moving to 5-4-5 in wins-losses-draws.
“We needed this in terms of attacking,” said Diaz, the former Under-17 and U-20 FIFA World Cup player for Mexico.
“We are happy to get three goals. But we let them score three goals,” added the former Liga MX pro.
Cavalry FC’s five-game winning streak became a nine-game undefeated run atop the table at 7-2-3.
“That was a very spirited point,” said Tommy Wheeldon Jr., head coach of the Calgary-based club. “They are the champions and have the gold crest on their chest and that’s what we aspire to be. We embrace playing them. I was proud of the spirit and effort.”
Especially in rallying from two goals down.
“Character is revealed when pressure is applied,” said Wheeldon Jr.
sa国际传媒-capped Cavalry FC midfielder Charlie Trafford concurred: “A lot of teams would have potentially folded. It shows so much resilience and what kind of group we are. We are gutted we did not come away with the win. We think we should have got all the points.”
Cavalry FC won the first match-up between the clubs this season, 2-0 in Calgary.
“This was one of the classics [of the rivalry],” said Wheeldon Jr.
PFC meets last-place FC Edmonton next Saturday in the Alberta capital.
