Vancouver FC have finally gotten a victory against Cavalry FC, as they picked up a gritty 1-0 win in Canadian Premier League action at the Stadium at Langley Events Centre on Friday night.
It might not have been the sort of free-flowing performance that an in-form Vancouver side would've wanted to have, but they won't mind that. Given that they had previously played Cavalry 16 times without finding an outright victory within 90 minutes, they'll be pleased that they finally got one over the line in the end, no matter how it happened.
Thanks to a goal from Lys Mousset in the second half, who helped Vancouver capitalize on a first-half red card from Cavalry's Eryk Kobza, Vancouver was also able to pick up their fifth win in six CPL matches, and fourth straight win at home in CPL play.
Cavalry, however, will be reeling after suffering just their second loss of the season, one that will certainly hurt given the form of first-place Forge, who could carve out a seven-point lead over Cavalry in the race for the CPL Shield this weekend.
Despite their 5-1 road win over FC Supra du Québec last weekend, Vancouver made two changes to their team for this game, as Aboubacar Traore and Isak Ssewankambo came in for Emrick Fotsing and Paris Gee - although it's worth noting that Fotsing wasn't available after being called up by Canada's U20 team.
Cavalry, meanwhile, made two changes to the team that drew the Halifax Wanderers last weekend, as Eryk Kobza and Nathaniel Edwards came in for Goteh Ntignee and Harry Paton - one of those changes was forced after Ntignee picked up a yellow card accumulation suspension in that Wanderers matchup.
Ali Musse came close to giving Cavalry an early lead just minutes into the game, as he carved out the space to fire a half-volley from the edge of the box, but his powerful shot was punched away by Vancouver goalkeeper Callum Irving.
Continuing to play on the front foot, Cavalry began to accumulate chances, but they'd be unable to find the target with any of their attempts. Daan Klomp flashed a header over on a set-piece in the sixth minute, before Eryk Kobza sliced a shot over the bar in the 15th minute, and then Tobias Warschewski curled a shot wide of the goal with an attempt from distance in the 20th minute.
Then, Klomp had Cavalry's best chance of the game in the 28th minute, as he did well to get on the end of a perfect cross from Warschewski, but he sliced his acrobatic half-volley attempt over the crossbar from close range.
Eventually, though, Vancouver would get a reprieve from the Cavalry pressure, as Kobza earned his second yellow card of the game in the 42nd minute, which reduced his side to 10 players.
Looking to find a lead before half-time, Vancouver started to push higher up the pitch in chase of a goal, as they took advantage of the space left behind by Kobza's early departure.
As a result, Kian Proctor had a good chance in the second minute of stoppage time, as he rose highest to a dangerous cross from Morey Doner, but his header sailed over the goal.
On the other side of the break, Proctor had to play a big role at his own end of the pitch, as he denied Cavalry an opening goal. After the second phase of a set-piece, the ball found a wide-open Amer Didic in the box, but despite having the time to control the ball and fire a shot towards goal, his attempt would be denied by a fantastic block from Proctor.
Fuelled by that block, Vancouver had two great chances to open the scoring moments later, and both fell at the feet of Nicolás Mezquida, who entered the match at halftime.
First, he fired a half-volley towards goal after a nice cross from Mohamed Amissi, but Cavalry's Nathan Ingham would nicely save his shot. Then, on the ensuing rebound, Mezquida looped another dangerous shot towards the far corner, but Ingham did well to fly across his six-yard box and made another excellent save to keep the game at 0-0.
Continuing that lively stretch from his side, Vancouver's Thierno Bah attempted a nice left-footed shot from the edge of the box, but his shot would be nicely smothered by Ingham.
Eventually, that pressure would pay off for Vancouver, however. After a nice cross from Proctor, he found the feet of Damiano Pecile, who fired a powerful shot off the underside of the crossbar and out. From there, the rebound fell to a wide-open Lys Mousset, and he wasn't going to miss from in close, as he rolled his shot into the net to put his team up 1-0.
Wanting to build on that lead, Vancouver continued pushing for a second goal from there. They'd almost find it in the 65th minute, too, as Bah cut inside on his left foot and fired a dangerous shot after some nice trickery from Mezquida, forcing an excellent save out of Ingham.
Despite that, Cavalry did show some signs of life at the end of the match, as they pushed for an equalizer. Certainly, Ali Musse didn't come far away from finding one in the 87th minute, as he fired a dangerous shot from distance, but his attempt sliced just wide of the goal.
Then, Cavalry had another fantastic chance to equalize in the second minute of stoppage time, but they surprisingly let it go to waste. After a dangerous cross evaded the hands of Vancouver's Callum Irving, the ball fell to a wide-open Warschewski, but despite having no goalkeeper to beat, he chipped his shot over the goal, as he tried to find a creative way to get the ball past the Vancouver defenders who had dropped in to cover for their goalkeeper.
In the end, that'd prove to be Cavalry's last big chance of the game, too, as Vancouver managed to see things out without making any other errors from there.
As a result, they were able to pick up three valuable points, one that provisionally pushes them up to third in the table, seven points behind second-place Cavalry as they hit the halfway mark of their regular season campaign.
"I'm happy with where we are, considering the halfway point," Vancouver FC head coach Martin Nash said afterwards. "But yeah, I think we still have areas to improve on, and we can still get better in."
"We're always looking to improve because we know everyone's going to keep improving, whether that's bringing in new talent or whatever else it may be (...) I think we're in a good spot right now. But we can't rest. We've got another tough game next week, and we're going to try and make this home field our fortress."
Box Score
Starting XIs
Vancouver FC: Irving; Doner, Campagna, Field, Proctor; Ssewankambo (Ouattara 90+6'), Polisi (Mezquida 46'); Bah (Gee 88'), Pecile, Traore (Amissi 46'); Mousset (Campbell 80')
Cavalry FC: Ingham; Pearlman, Klomp, Didic, Kamdem (Laing 86'); Baldisimo (Antoniuk 86'), Kobza; Musse (Elva 90+1'), Camargo (Myroniuk 72'), Edwards (Paton 72'); Warschewski
Goals
60' — Lys Mousset (Vancouver FC)
Discipline
23' — Yellow: Eryk Kobza (Cavalry FC)
25' — Yellow: Marcello Polisi (Vancouver FC)
37' — Yellow: Aboubacar Traore (Vancouver FC)
39' — Yellow: Martin Nash (Vancouver FC)
42' — Yellow+Red: Eryk Kobza (Cavalry FC)
70' — Yellow: Thierno Bah (Vancouver FC)
90+5' — Yellow: Harry Paton (Cavalry FC)
CPLSoccer.com Player of the Match
Kian Proctor, Vancouver FC
Proctor was a lively presence at left back for Vancouver, putting in a big defensive performance, in particular, finishing with two tackles, one block, four clearances, one interception, three recoveries and seven out of nine won duels. Then, for good measure, he also chipped in with two chances created, two shots, two dribbles, 39 out of 45 completed passes and five out of six completed long balls offensively, too.
What's Next?
Vancouver will stay at home for their next match, as they'll host Atlético Ottawa at the Stadium at Langley Events Centre on Saturday, August 1st (3:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. ET). Cavalry, meanwhile, will have a quick turnaround before their next game, as they return home to host FC Supra du Québec at ATCO Field on Tuesday, July 28th (7:00 p.m. MT/9:00 p.m. ET).