After a well-played game against the Vancouver-based Desmesh FC team, Ocean Port FC lost 3 to 2 at Brennan Park Fields on Saturday (April 10).
"We thought we played really well," said team coach Dave Harrison. "But we made two defensive mistakes and in this division when you make a mistake you're punished."
The punishment came in the form of two goals against Ocean Port, both of which landed in the net during the second half of the game. The mistakes ended up costing the team a berth in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League's (VMSL) Division 1 next year.
Both goals, according to Harrison, saw Ocean Port defensemen playing a ball rather than getting it away from the net, allowing for swift manoeuvres by two Desmesh forwards.
"You can't avoid mistakes you just hope they don't come back to haunt you," said Harrison. "It was unfortunate because we were up 1-0 at the time."
However Harrison said the entire team was actually very positive about the game because they knew everyone had played their best.
"We played actually really good. So it's one of those things, it's unfortunate. I thought for quite a good part of the game we were the better team," said Harrison.
"After the game, they guys were quite positive. They thought they had played well. I'm quite pleased with the way the team played. Everyone put a good effort in."
With plenty of aggressive attempts to score, Ocean Port played a well-balanced game.
Both teams volleyed the play from end to end matching each other in breakaway attempts and shots on goal. Nearing the end of the second half, an opportunity to even up the score was missed by Ocean Port but by no fault of either team.
A Desmesh handball should have given a penalty shot to Ocean Port however everyone but the referee managed to catch a glimpse of the game infraction. Harrison said even the opposing coach admitted it was a penalty.
"The ball was handled quite clearly but the referee said he'd never seen it and the other coach said 'Oh yeah it was a penalty.' The only one who didn't see it was the referee," Harrison laughed.
In the second playoff game, Ocean Port played HNK Vatreni on Tuesday (April 13), losing 4 to 1.
Ocean Port scored first but HNK didn't miss a beat and score two goals before the end of the first half, according to Harrison.
Ocean Port worked hard to push the play up in the second have, looking for an equalizing goal, but a few lucky break for HNK resulted in two more goals against Ocean Port.
"We're disappointed we didn't go up to the first division but we're not disappointed with our season because we were division winners," Harrison said.
"They were disappointed [after Tuesday's loss] but not unhappy. We had a great season."
Next year approximately nine VMSL Division 1 teams are moving down into Division 2, so Harrison says the competition level for Ocean Port will be even greater.
