Pacific FC picked up their first road victory of the season, 3-2 over Valour FC in Winnipeg on Friday night.

A second-half own goal from Valour’s Shaan Hundal capped off a night of unfortunate mistakes for the hosts, and stood as the winner. Pacific’s Young also scored from the penalty spot, and Tîrcoveanu added their second. Hundal found the net for Valour as well, as did Jordan Swibel to tie the CPL league lead in goals.

The victory moves the Tridents into second in the table for the time being.

With both Emil Gazdov and Sean Melvin unavailable, Pacific FC gave the start to Short-Term Replacement goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec.

Within a minute, Valour gave away a high-quality opportunity, as Jonathan Viscosi picked up a back pass in his own box, giving up a rare indirect free kick in the penalty area. The deadball opportunity resulted in a good chance for Steffen Yeates, but he sent his curling effort narrowly wide of the right post.

Pacific were finally rewarded for their ability to get behind the Valour backline in the 19th minute, however, as Reon Moore got on the end of a long ball and was brought down by Viscosi in the box. Young stepped up to take the resulting penalty and opened the scoring from the spot for the Tridents.

It took Valour 28 minutes to test the debutant Zadravec, with a bouncing but ultimately tame effort from well outside the box from Swibel.

Pacific continued to keep their foot on the gas, however, and in the 33rd minute found another through Tîrcoveanu. The Romanian took down a cross from Yeates in the box, before turning and hitting a shot across goal past Viscosi.

Zadravec was called into action just a minute before half-time and made a brilliant reaction save on a strong strike from Swibel from just inside the top of the box.

On the final play of the half, however, Valour got one back. A clever ball from Diogo Ressurreição was deflected off the head of Thomas Meilleur-Giguère and into the path of Hundal who tapped home his first of the season to cut the score to 2-1 just before the half-time whistle.

Ignited by their late goal in the first half, Valour began the second on the front foot, with a few decent half chances through Swibel and Ressurreição in the opening ten minutes. Neither were able to test Zadravec, however.

In the 63rd minute, however, Swibel had his moment. Ressurreição played the ball to the Australian in transition, who hit a stunning curling effort from outside the box just inside the right post to tie the match 2-2. It was Swibel’s fifth of the season, tying him with Cavalry’s Tobias Warschewski and Atlético Ottawa’s Ruben del Campo for the CPL lead.

With the momentum looking like it had swung entirely toward the hosts, however, another calamitous moment cost them. A free kick from substitute Adonijah Reid deflected off of the head of Hundal and looped over Viscosi and into the net to give Pacific a 3-2 lead. It was the first time this season Pacific have scored more than two goals in a match.

Valour’s Jordan Faria came close on a few opportunities late in the match, but the Tridents held on for what could be a big victory in their season. The win continued Pacific’s dominant record over Valour, having now won 16 of the 21 all-time meetings between the two clubs.

BOX SCORE

Lineups

Valour FC: Viscosi; Alarcón (Facchineri 86′), Chantzopoulos, Mourdoukoutas, Antonoglou; Ohin, Verhoeven, Ressurreição; Binate (Faria 58′), Hundal (Sukunda 78′), Swibel 

Pacific FC: Zadravec; Dada-Luke, Amedume, Meilleur-Giguère, Lajeunesse; Young, Lamothe (Toussaint 61′), Yeates; Tîrcoveanu (Reid 71′) , Heard (Zanatta 82′), Moore

Goals

19′ — Sean Young (Pacific FC) (Penalty)
33′ — Andrei Tîrcoveanu (Pacific FC)
45+1′ — Shaan Hundal (Valour FC)
64′ — Jordan Swibel (Valour FC)
75′ — Shaan Hundal (Valour FC) — Own goal

Discipline

60′ — Yellow: Reon Moore (Pacific FC)
80′ — Yellow: Josh Heard (Pacific FC)
80′ — Yellow: Roberto Alarćon (Valour FC)
89′ — Yellow: Steffen Yeates (Pacific FC)
90+5′ — Yellow: Cédric Toussaint (Pacific FC)