PACIFIC FC 3 VALOUR FC 0
Pacific FC climbed out of its funk in dashing fashion in Winnipeg on Saturday, blowing away Valour FC 3-0 in a Canadian Premier League game at IG Field.
“We looked more like ourselves,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
The victory came after a stretch of three losses and two draws in the previous five games that saw the Tridents slip from a comfortable perch atop the CPL and into a sudden scramble in the top half of the table. With PFC and Forge FC winning this weekend, and Cavalry FC losing, the Tridents and defending champion Forge are tied atop the table with 29 points with PFC holding a game in hand. Third-place Cavalry FC is on 27 points.
“We let the gap slip, but didn’t lose our confidence and proved we are a resilient group,” said Merriman.
Former sa国际传媒 Under-20 international Adonijah Reid, a second-round MLS draft pick of FC Dallas, scored at five minutes off a cross by Easton Ongaro to punish a Valour FC turnover and set the tone for the game. Captain Josh Heard and Ayman Sellouf followed up at 83 and 85 minutes to put it away as PFC moved to 8-4-5 in wins-losses-draws. It was the team-leading fifth goal of the season for Dutch-import Sellouf, who is also tied for the league lead in assists with six, as his revelatory season continued. Sellouf assisted on Heard’s goal and then received a marvellous assist from a hard-charging Kunle Dada-Luke for his goal.
Emil Gazdov recorded the clean sheet for the Tridents.
“We were so hungry for goals and targeted to get one early and then got it, great, and then go get more,” said Gazdov.
The pitch at IG Field, also home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL, is the widest in the CPL and the Tridents looked to take advantage.
“Our mentality was to keep it going from the first minute to the 90th minute. On the bigger field we wanted to get the ball moving, and tire them out and open up the spaces, and we did that,” said Gazdov.
Merriman concurred: “We spoke a lot about it coming into this game. We know the space and wanted to control that space. We moved the ball side to side and looked for gaps.”
PFC found several and were unlucky not to get a fourth goal, that was called back on an offside call. The Tridents also came close earlier than even Reid’s goal at five minutes with two close calls before that by Manny Aparicio against a Valour FC club mired in seventh place at 3-7-7.
The Tridents are in Halifax on Aug. 7 to meet the HFX Wanderers in the third longest trip in the world between teams in a domestic Premiership soccer league.
