Valour FC moved within one point of Pacific FC for the fifth and final playoff spot on Monday night, after beating the Tridents 1-0 at Princess Auto Stadium.
After the two sides traded early shots on target, Themi Antonoglou sent a dangerous cross into the Pacific penalty area which Shaan Hundal tried to control instead of trying to hit the target with his first touch. That extra touch bought Emil Gazdov a bit of time to come rushing out of his net, and Hundal tried to poke the ball past the Tridents goalkeeper, but he couldn’t squeeze it by from close range.
Shortly after Hundal’s chance, Pacific midfielder Cedric Toussaint was forced out of the match after being troubled by an injury he seemed to pick up about five minutes earlier, replaced by Pierre Lamothe.
Pacific had a great chance to take the lead in the 29th minute, as they counter-attacked quickly after winning the ball in midfield. Adonijah Reid was the player to get the final shot away, making a run into the penalty area before firing a shot at Jonathan Viscosi, who made a great reaction save. The ensuing corner kick didn’t lead to anything, but the Tridents were starting to sharpen up a bit and build into the match as it progressed.
The Tridents appealed for a penalty when Lamothe went down in the box, but the referee waved them away, as Lamothe went down quite easily. As play continued Reid floated a cross into the box toward Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, whose header went over the crossbar. Moments later at the other end of the pitch Loïc Kwemi, who was causing all kinds of trouble for the Pacific backline on the night, had a go from the outside of the box but sent it wide with a low shot.
Moses Dyer nearly scored an impressive goal in first half stoppage time, diving to get onto a cross into the penalty area, but his effort went wide of the mark as well. The first half ended scoreless, with both teams chasing an important victory.
Pacific picked up where they left off when play resumed, firing several shots at Jonathan Viscosi’s net in the first few minutes, but none of them could hit the target. Steffen Yeates fired a free kick over the bar, before Reid missed the target less than a minute later. After Dario Zanatta had a shot blocked in the 56th minute Christian Greco-Taylor attempted an audacious shot from well outside the penalty area, but his effort went soaring into the Winnipeg sky high over the net.
After replacing Jordan Faria just before the hour mark, Jordan Swibel tried to give Valour the lead from a free kick but he sent his shot into the defensive wall. He scooped up his own rebound, but the follow up effort went wide of the target.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 76th minute. Themi Antonoglou fired another excellent low cross into the penalty area which Pacific centre-back Kevin Ceceri tried to clear, but mistakenly redirected into the back of his own net, giving Valour the lead.
(OWN) GOAL 🦁@ValourFootball HAVE A LATE LEAD! Themi Antonoglou sends a cross in which is deflected by Pacific’s Kevin Ceceri past Emil Gazdov ⚽️
🔴 Watch the #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/m0BhmHFNcK
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 1, 2024
Pacific were energized by conceding and went back to work to try and find an equalizer, as Valour looked to hold to three massive points. Dyer, who had scored in each of each previous four appearances for Pacific, struck the post with a cross-goal shot from the edge of the penalty area.
When Roberto Alarcón made an acrobatic bicycle kick clearance to get the rebound away, Lamothe made contact with the Valour right back and was shown a second yellow card by referee Mario Alayass, leaving the Tridents at ten men for more than ten important minutes at the end of the match.
RED CARD 🔴
Pierre Lamothe is shown a 2nd yellow after stepping on Roberto Alarcón 😲 @Pacificfccpl will play with 10 men for the rest of the game.
🔴 Watch the #CanPL LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/KR8qaLTA0c
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) October 1, 2024
Six minutes of stoppage time were added on at the end of the 90, and Valour were able to hold on for those hard-fought minutes to secure three points and move themselves off the bottom of the table. The Winnipeggers climbed from eighth to seventh, over Halifax Wanderers FC and into a tie on 27 points with sixth-place Vancouver FC.
More importantly they are now one point back of Pacific, who occupy the fifth and final playoff spot with 28 points with just three matches left in the regular season.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
Valour FC: Viscosi; Alarcón, Mourdoukoutas, Facchineri, Antonoglou; Faria (Swibel 59′), Campbell, Mlah (Ohin 59′), Ressurreicao (Haynes 86′); Kwemi (Binate 78′), Hundal
Pacific FC: Gazdov; Dada-Luke, Meilleur-Giguère, Ceceri, Greco-Taylor; Toussaint (Lamothe 17′), Young, Yeates (Moore 82′) Reid (Tîrcoveanu 64′), Dyer, Zanatta
Goals
76′ — Kevin Ceceri (Pacific FC) — own goal
Discipline
45+3′ — Yellow: Pierre Lamothe (Pacific FC)
49′ — Yellow: Roberto Alarcón (Valour FC)
69′ — Yellow: Christian Greco-Taylor (Pacific FC)
75′ — Yellow: Moses Dyer (Pacific FC)
75′ — Yellow: Jonathan Viscosi (Valour FC)
83′ — Red: Pierre Lamothe (Pacific FC) — second yellow card