Guelph United, Alliance United in scoreless draw
GUELPH – Guelph United claimed their second tie in as many League1 Ontario Men’s Premier soccer outings this year on a damp Friday night at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
The hosts battled Alliance United FC, the alliance being between the Markham and Wexford soccer clubs, to a scoreless standoff.
Guelph United 0 Alliance United 0
“They certainly had their chances, we certainly had our chances,” Guelph head coach Justin Springer said. “The overall run in play, we had our moments, they had their moments so it was certainly one of continuous momentum changes and both did everything that they could. I thought both keepers were outstanding today as well. Lots of great saves to keep it in a no-no draw.”
Carter Robart had the clean sheet for Guelph while Praveen Ahilan had the shutout for Alliance, his second in as many matches this season.
While the Guelph side carried most of the play in the first half, it was the opposite in the second half as Alliance carried the majority of the play.
“We had a lot of our pressing moments within the first half. They changed tactically to press us a little bit more in the second half,” Springer said. “And I certainly think that the conditions also didn’t really help either. But a lot of further diagonal balls that certainly run out, it just kind of made a new dynamic to the second half for sure.”
Rain started to fall in the final five minutes of the opening half and got harder throughout the game, but could never be called a downpour.
While both sides had chances to score, Guelph had to play a man down in stoppage time in the second half when Amardo Oakley was assessed his second yellow card of the game. The hosts were shown the yellow card four times, twice as many times as Alliance.
Guelph United are ninth in the standings with their two ties, the first one being a 2-2 draw with Blue Devils FC in Oakville last week.
“Not as good as two wins, but I think our performances in both games has been fantastic,” Springer said. “I actually thought today we played extremely well, did everything that we wanted to do tactically. Unfortunately, it was just one of those days that we just couldn’t convert on our chances. And credit to them, they’re very well organized, very hard to break down attacking wise.
“They hold their shape so well. We knew that coming into this game, so we knew that patience was going to be a key. Unfortunately we just weren’t able to capitalize on our chances, but if we continue in this manner moving forward and we continue to play this way and we continue to create chances for ourselves, we’ll end up having some good positive actions coming out of it.”
That’ll be needed as this is the final year L1O operates Men’s Premier as a single division. This year’s points will be added to 75 percent of the points the teams earned last year to break the teams into two divisions for the 2024 season. It’ll actually be three divisions with reserve squads and expansion teams making up the third grouping.
Guelph United was seventh last season and the top division is expected to be 12 teams next year which puts the locals in a good position to start this year’s campaign.
“Yep, it’s a good starting point, but we’re also going to do everything that we can to make sure that we are in that top tier for next year,” Springer said. “So we’ve got a lot of work ahead to make sure that we’re in that top flight for the 2024 season.”
Guelph United is also fielding a bit of a different look this season with striker Jace Kotsopoulos having moved on along with a few other players. Gray Yates and Jared Agyemang are the feature forwards now and all-star Oakley was certainly more involved in the offence Friday night than he was in the past. However, as is the case whenever there’s a change in playing personnel, it’ll take a bit of time for all to gel.
“It certainly takes some time to build that chemistry, to build those individual nuances in terms of positional relationships and things of that nature and the tendency of the players as well,” Springer said. “For example, some players like to deliver early balls in and others like to get to the byline and try to get something floated or get something as a cutback. It’s just going to be a little bit of time as we learn the individual tendencies of the entire team and once we do that, we’ll continue to have our successes.”
Guelph United are to host FC London Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Gryphon Soccer Complex, their final game there this season as all other home games are to be played at the Centennial Park Bowl.
London was the team that had the bye in the opening week.
Thursday’s game is to start at 8 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph United, Alliance United in scoreless draw
GUELPH – Guelph United claimed their second tie in as many League1 Ontario Men’s Premier soccer outings this year on a damp Friday night at the Gryphon Soccer Complex.
The hosts battled Alliance United FC, the alliance being between the Markham and Wexford soccer clubs, to a scoreless standoff.
Guelph United 0
Alliance United 0
“They certainly had their chances, we certainly had our chances,” Guelph head coach Justin Springer said. “The overall run in play, we had our moments, they had their moments so it was certainly one of continuous momentum changes and both did everything that they could. I thought both keepers were outstanding today as well. Lots of great saves to keep it in a no-no draw.”
Carter Robart had the clean sheet for Guelph while Praveen Ahilan had the shutout for Alliance, his second in as many matches this season.
While the Guelph side carried most of the play in the first half, it was the opposite in the second half as Alliance carried the majority of the play.
“We had a lot of our pressing moments within the first half. They changed tactically to press us a little bit more in the second half,” Springer said. “And I certainly think that the conditions also didn’t really help either. But a lot of further diagonal balls that certainly run out, it just kind of made a new dynamic to the second half for sure.”
Rain started to fall in the final five minutes of the opening half and got harder throughout the game, but could never be called a downpour.
While both sides had chances to score, Guelph had to play a man down in stoppage time in the second half when Amardo Oakley was assessed his second yellow card of the game. The hosts were shown the yellow card four times, twice as many times as Alliance.
Guelph United are ninth in the standings with their two ties, the first one being a 2-2 draw with Blue Devils FC in Oakville last week.
“Not as good as two wins, but I think our performances in both games has been fantastic,” Springer said. “I actually thought today we played extremely well, did everything that we wanted to do tactically. Unfortunately, it was just one of those days that we just couldn’t convert on our chances. And credit to them, they’re very well organized, very hard to break down attacking wise.
“They hold their shape so well. We knew that coming into this game, so we knew that patience was going to be a key. Unfortunately we just weren’t able to capitalize on our chances, but if we continue in this manner moving forward and we continue to play this way and we continue to create chances for ourselves, we’ll end up having some good positive actions coming out of it.”
That’ll be needed as this is the final year L1O operates Men’s Premier as a single division. This year’s points will be added to 75 percent of the points the teams earned last year to break the teams into two divisions for the 2024 season. It’ll actually be three divisions with reserve squads and expansion teams making up the third grouping.
Guelph United was seventh last season and the top division is expected to be 12 teams next year which puts the locals in a good position to start this year’s campaign.
“Yep, it’s a good starting point, but we’re also going to do everything that we can to make sure that we are in that top tier for next year,” Springer said. “So we’ve got a lot of work ahead to make sure that we’re in that top flight for the 2024 season.”
Guelph United is also fielding a bit of a different look this season with striker Jace Kotsopoulos having moved on along with a few other players. Gray Yates and Jared Agyemang are the feature forwards now and all-star Oakley was certainly more involved in the offence Friday night than he was in the past. However, as is the case whenever there’s a change in playing personnel, it’ll take a bit of time for all to gel.
“It certainly takes some time to build that chemistry, to build those individual nuances in terms of positional relationships and things of that nature and the tendency of the players as well,” Springer said. “For example, some players like to deliver early balls in and others like to get to the byline and try to get something floated or get something as a cutback. It’s just going to be a little bit of time as we learn the individual tendencies of the entire team and once we do that, we’ll continue to have our successes.”
Guelph United are to host FC London Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Gryphon Soccer Complex, their final game there this season as all other home games are to be played at the Centennial Park Bowl.
London was the team that had the bye in the opening week.
Thursday’s game is to start at 8 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal