Whitecaps Run out of Juice in Tie with Battery
August 20, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Vancouver Whitecaps News Release
Vancouver Whitecaps FC were held to a 1-1 away draw by Charleston Battery in USL First Division action on Thursday evening.
Charles Gbeke gave the Whitecaps an early lead in the midweek contest at Blackbaud Stadium before Charleston's Ian Fuller earned a share of the spoils with a headed equalizer shortly after halftime. The result in South Carolina was the Whitecaps third-straight draw, with Vancouver's winless streak now extended to six matches as a result. They remain in seventh place in the USL-1 standings with a record of 7W-9L-7D. The draw for Charleston leaves them second in the league standings with a record of 12W-4L-9D.
In what was the second match in three days for the Whitecaps, head coach Teitur Thordarson made four changes to the side that started Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Carolina RailHawks in Cary, North Carolina. Lyle Martin, Chris Pozniak, and Mason Trafford joined recent acquisition Shaun Pejic in the visitors' backline, with Takashi Hirano and Marco Reda making way. South Carolina native Wes Knight moved up into the right outside midfield position, while Tanzania international Nizar Khalfan played in central midfield, with Gordon Chin coming out of the starting line-up. Tuesday goalscorer Marcus Haber replaced the injured Marlon James in attack.
Battery head coach Mike Anhaeuser, meanwhile, named an unchanged side from the team that started the 4-1 home win over the struggling Cleveland City Stars on Tuesday, August 11. Keith Wiggans got the nod ahead of the injured Dusty Hudock in the Charleston goal, while Randi Patterson and Darren Spicer started up front for the home side.
On a very warm and humid late summer's evening, it was the Whitecaps that made a superb start to the match by stunning their hosts with an early goal.
On five minutes, Knight delighted several of his former College of Charleston teammates by setting up Gbeke's goal with a fine cross from the right. The winger's forward ball found the Canadian international right on the Charleston six-yard box, and having split the Battery backline, the unmarked Gbeke finished first-time past Wiggans to give the 'Caps a 1-0 lead. It was the big striker's seventh goal of the year, while Knight took his team-leading assist total to five.
Having claimed an early advantage, Gbeke had a glorious chance to double Vancouver's lead a minute later. However, his close-range shot deflected off a Battery defender and into the welcoming arms of Wiggans.
Being a goal down at home was an unfamiliar position for Charleston, though Spicer looked to respond on 14 minutes after making a dangerous forward run to the edge of the Whitecaps box before Martin made a fine defensive tackle to concede a corner. A minute later, Spicer found the arms of 'Caps goalkeeper Jay Nolly with a strike from the right side of the target.
Though there was a leisurely pace to the match during the first half, the home side started to push the Whitecaps back on their heels, with Pejic earning his first-ever booking in USL-1 after fouling the speedy Patterson on the right edge of the Vancouver box on 23 minutes. From the ensuing free kick, Charleston's Tsuyoshi Yoshitake forced Nolly to save and fumble the ball in front of his own goal before Ansu Toure was able to clear the danger.
At the other end three minutes later, Gbeke nearly found the net again after he headed Whitecaps captain Martin Nash's corner from the right off the Charleston crossbar and out for a goal kick.
With the match edging towards the break, the Battery were forced into an early substitution, as former Seattle Sounders midfielder Kenji Treschuk replaced the injured Stephen Armstrong on 42 minutes.
The two minutes of time added on did little to change matters, as the Whitecaps took a one-goal lead into halftime.
Vancouver's slim advantage was lost shortly after the start of the second half, as Charleston levelled matters from a free kick on the left of the 'Caps box. Japanese import Yoshitake swung in the set-piece towards Fuller, who beat Pejic to head the ball past Nolly and into the far corner of the goal for 1-1 on 47 minutes.
It was a disappointing way for the visitors to restart the contest and with the match back in the balance, Charleston started pushing forward in search of a second goal. Nolly was then called on to save goal-bound efforts from Treschuk and Scott Buete on 50 and 52 minutes respectively.
Credit the Whitecaps, however, they did not let their heads drop after being pulled back to level terms, with Vancouver creating chances of their own around the hour mark. Wiggans dove to save Nash's curling free-kick strike on 59 minutes before Gbeke earned a Whitecaps corner after his far-post header from Toure's cross was blocked off target a minute later.
It was also at this stage that Thordarson made two substitutions, as former Battery man Chin replaced Knight, while Tyrell Burgess came on for Toure.
More Whitecaps chances then went begging. Nash struck a wayward volley high and wide on 63 minutes before Gbeke was unable to keep his header on target after getting on the end of Haber's header back across goal, following a fine cross from the right by Khalfan.
The Battery's response came soon after, with Patterson unlucky not to find Spicer in front of the Vancouver goal with a low cross from the right on 70 minutes, while a minute later, Nolly dived to his left to stop Yoshitake's well-hit free kick from the edge of the Whitecaps box.
The endeavour of both sides to find a winning goal was evident in the game's latter stages. On 78 minutes, Nolly confidently saved O'Brian Woodbine's right-footed strike before Gbeke was unable to hit the target with a shot at the other end three minutes later after the Battery had struggled to deal with Haber's low cross into the Charleston box.
Thordarson's last move was to bring in youngster Randy Edwini-Bonsu for Haber on 82 minutes. His first touch of the ball came a minute later, and in a prime position near the Battery goal. Unfortunately for the 19-year-old, the forward was unable to control Martin's fiercely-hit cutback pass from the Charleston byline.
Edwini-Bonsu's late introduction seemed to trouble the Charleston backline, and in the 90th minute, the Canadian youth international made claims for a Whitecaps penalty after going down under a challenge in the Battery box. Match referee Carlos Sandoval, however, waved the teenager's appeals away.
The Vancouver substitute nearly pulled off some late heroics in the three minutes of time added on, but a fine tackle in the Charleston box denied Edwini-Bonsu the chance to strike at goal, with a Vancouver corner conceded instead.
The final whistle confirmed another point earned by the Whitecaps from this week's two-match road trip to the southeastern United States. Vancouver will now return home and prepare for their fourth match in nine days, as they host fellow USL-1 playoff chasers Miami FC Blues at Swangard Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Charleston, meanwhile, will have a week to prepare for a top-of-the table clash versus Portland Timbers at Blackbaud Stadium on Friday, August 28.
USL First Division Stories from August 20, 2009
- Whitecaps Run out of Juice in Tie with Battery - Vancouver Whitecaps
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