Fury FC Earns First Win of Season in Another Gritty Performance
May 7, 2018 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Ottawa Fury FC News Release
Ottawa Fury FC battles Penn FC for possession
(Ottawa Fury FC)
OTTAWA - After three home matches in the past many weeks, Ottawa Fury FC headed south of the border to take on Penn FC on Monday night. Strong off a positive showing midweek against New York, Ottawa continued to prove their doubters wrong with a gritty 1-0 win in Harrisburg, jumping up one spot in the Eastern Conference standings in the process.
After two quick attempts on goal from each team, the two sides settled into a more defensive posture, holding the possession battle in midfield for most of the first half.
In what was perhaps Ottawa's best opportunity of the initial 45, Steevan Dos Santos, who made a return to head coach Popovic's starting crew for the match, ended up on the receiving end of a crafty pass from Reid in the top corner of the box, managed a less than full strength shot at the net that got past Penn FC's Lewis only to see it saved at the last minute by the defender Tribbett.
Fury FC took early advantage of the narrow pitch at FNB Field, creating dangerous runs in the final third and close attempts on goal. Another bright performance for Fury FC in the first half was the play of defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguere, who showed good awareness and provided valuable offensive support on the flank in his first start of the season, and second ever match in the left-back role.
Despite facing some late attacks from Penn FC, Ottawa took their opponent into the half all locked in at nil-nil.
Fury FC came out of the halftime break with an aggressor's mindset, pushing Penn FC deep in their zone. Early in the second period, Ottawa faced as much adversity coming from Lewis' goal posts as from the entire opposing side. In the 50th minute, Haworth got past Lewis, who was off his line, dribbled around the defender but his right footed shot hit the post. Barely five minutes later, Portilla curled another one of his now infamous corner shots, right on the inside of the far post for another close call. Unfortunately, neither enough to open the score line.
Chances were aplenty for Fury FC in the second half, with Dos Santos, Haworth and Oliveira all breaking down Penn FC's defense line and threatening.
Late in the match, Sanon, who came in the 66th minute to earn his first presence of the season, broke through the defense and saw his shot blocked by Lewis to earn a Fury FC corner, their fifth of the second half. The Ottawa corner went past the second post, centered by Oliveira to be lightly punched out by the keeper, and Falvey wasted no time to put it in the back of the net, giving Fury FC their first lead of the 2018 season, much to the dismay of Penn FC.
In the end, another gritty performance for Ottawa Fury FC was finally rewarded with three points thanks to the 1-0 win, and the team will look to continue its upward trajectory as it prepares to host Atlanta United 2 at TD Place on Saturday, May 12.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
Head Coach Nikola Popovic
"First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this victory to Julian de Guzman. He's doing fantastic work rebuilding this team, this club, and he deserves full credit for what he's doing. We've had a difficult start, but I think that when you're trying to do something like he is trying to do, it's always going to be difficult at the beginning, difficult to build that foundation at the start. But we've got our three points and that speaks to what he's done."
"It was a very even game. I think we always created the best chances, to hit the goal, to be dangerous in front of the goal, and we had a lot of chances to put ourselves in front. Late, we got the chance we needed and got the three points, but I think that was a game we deserved to win."
"With time, we are going to have a better understanding of the players and they will understand better the model. We know some players will react differently, and that's why we have to adapt. But this is normal in any model, everything is different, so I think we are making the right adaptations, but that's why, when you are building a team, you need time. We needed to get to know our players so we could put them in a good position to win."
MATCH REPORT
Full stats report on USL Match Centre | Watch Game Highlights
Starting XI
Ottawa Fury FC (4-3-3): Crépeau; Meilleur-Giguere, Falvey, Henry, Edward; Dixon, Portilla (89' Manesio), Oliveira; Reid (66' Sanon), Dos Santos, Haworth ?© (90+2' Taylor)
Penn FC (4-2-3-1): Lewis; Barone, Tribbett, Calvano (77' Venter), Franco; Shaibu (64' Rezende), Metzger; Opoku, Menjivar, Muhammad (81' - Ortiz); Mkosana
Scoring Summary
87' - Falvey
Caution Summary
61' - Calvano
80' - Franco
83' - Edward
Expulsion Summary
87' - Voss (HC)
Attendance
Next Match: Saturday, May 12 v Atlanta United 2 - 2:00 p.m. - TD Place
Images from this story
 Ottawa Fury FC battles Penn FC for possession |
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