ONE. TWO. SIX

“You get what you earn”.

Moving to Canada has been a big change; there is a change to the whole way of life over here. From the general nature of people to drinking ‘Tim Horton’s’ EVERYDAY. One thing that hasn’t changed is the taste of defeat. That will remain the same wherever you go. As a team we have been tasting defeat far too much for our liking. The Vreds lost three games in a row coming into arguably the toughest weekend of the season- one long drive, two huge games and 6 points up for grabs.

Our game preparation consisted of our second string goalie, Brandon Eagle ‘breaking his leg’…

OH WAIT- no he didn’t. The ambulance was called, at least 3 players were in shock (including myself), we were convinced we saw his leg flopping off. However, after being driven away and 4 hours of waiting the diagnoses was a sprained ankle.
The ambulance was called for a sprained ankle. Wow.
It is this sort of embarrassing story that really brings a team together, we find it hilarious and Beagle will NEVER hear the end of it.

After the recent run of results you’d think the camp would be on a downer, instead we came out, trained hard and showed the rest of the league what we are capable of. Yes. We won both games, 2-0 and 3-0. This is more like it! Two clean sheets and five goals scored.

This is how it went down.

Friday we played against STFX, there was a different rendition of the Canadian national anthem sung before the game. I enjoyed the fact it was sung and I would personally like it to be sung when we play at home, maybe that way I could learn the words.
The game started and we went all out, pressing in the right areas and getting turnovers left, right and centre- our good work paid off when Jason Bessey found himself in front of goal on the end of a through ball by me. He showed the composure of Lionel Messi and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper. We defended well, riding our luck a little when the ball was bouncing in our box but the game stayed at 1-0 until the 70^th minute. Enter Yousuf Mohammad. This has to be one of the best goals I have ever seen. The corner came in and Yousuf peeled off at the back post. He hit the ball on the volley and rocketed it past everyone. 2-0!

Saturday saw more travelling, over to Cape Breton. The team was pumped. We knew if we had a bad performance all our hard work would have counted for nothing. Ben Law finished off a beautiful move in the first half, making it 1-0 at HT. Oli Jones ran the left back ragged which eventually led to the lad diving in and getting a red card. Oli assisted both the 2^nd and 3^rd goals. Amir Razak stroked the ball home to make it two and then Will Allen broke the offside trap, rounded to goalie and made it 3! Onwards and upwards for the Vreds from here.

ONE long road trip, TWO huge games, SIX points WON!

Disappointment in 48 hours.

 Mens Soccer…

My name is George Lawton, I am 19 years old and I will be blogging for the men’s soccer team this season. I am an international student over from England on a soccer scholarship. I have played soccer in both England and Scotland to a fairly high standard playing up and down the country for a school of excellence.  This past January I coached soccer in South Africa for 3 months doing voluntary work, but I also had some time to explore the country. A couple of highlights would have to be doing the world’s highest bungee jump and going on numerous safaris.
A lot of people have asked why I chose to come to Canada? In all honesty it comes down to one thing. The people here are ridiculously kind. You guys won’t realise, back home if you smile at someone in the street they are more than likely to try and start a confrontation. This kindness is further proven in the soccer team. Coming from overseas I will admit entering a new dressing room I was a little apprehensive as to how the team would react. From past experience new teams can be cold and distant to new players. Here it was the complete opposite. I have to say the team is awesome, both as people and players (despite last week’s results). I was welcomed in and I feel like I have known the lads for years, the camaraderie within the dressing room is better than anywhere I have ever played and I am looking forward to showing you what this team will achieve.

4 points from the first two games flattered us a little as we still hadn’t put in a proper performance; even so we entered the weekend with a good mind set and with high hopes. However, this is how the weekend went down.

The Reds had a tough time on the road this past weekend losing both games. Coming into Fridays game versus Moncton we were pumped, I personally was looking forward to playing on grass too, coming over the England it was strange to adjust to playing on turf and so the green grass reminded me of the pitches I am used to. We knew what to expect from our opponents and in the early stages of the game we threatened. The crossbar and post we both rattled. Amir Razak with a header that bounced down and was cleared, Oli Jones hit a sweet volley which hit the post then came off the goalkeeper for a corner, unfortunately we couldn’t find a breakthrough and the tenacity of Moncton paid off. Two identical goals were scored in quick succession that gave us a mountain to climb. As a team we reacted fairly well, our persistence paid off when Ben Law was the first to react to the ball bouncing in the opposition penalty box. The ball flew into the back of the net and we were back in the game. If we could have got another before HT we would have been full of confidence going into the dressing room. However, Moncton are not the type of team to lay down and it was them who scored the key 4^th goal of the game on the 42^nd minute. As we came into the dressing room at half time we had a positive attitude. We knew what was needed of us and we were prepared to go out and get the 3 goals needed to win the game. With a 2 goal deficit we knew it would be difficult. The mountain we found ourselves climbing became a whole lot steeper when Jason Rouse got sent off for a dangerous challenge. Its times like these where we see the true mentality of a team. We adjusted the backline and midfield and got a grit between our teeth. We were not going to accept defeat. I wish I could write that our mentality helped us go on to win the game but it didn’t. In that second half performance we showed character and determination but there was no way through and we lost the game 3-1. Despite the huge amount of disappointment and the lack of 3 points we did take something out of the game. Pride.

A becoming or dignified sense of what is due to oneself or one's position or character; self-respect; self-esteem. That is the dictionary definition of pride. These are things that we left in Moncton because the performance we gave at UPEI wasn’t good enough and we came away three goals down with no reply. 3-0 was the last thing we thought entering the game. As mentioned despite the loss there was something different about us as a team entering the match on the island. In mind we were ready but in body we were not and we paid the price. Again we went in at half time 2 goals behind. Few words were said by the coach at half time. Words weren’t going to affect the outcome of this game, we simply had to look with ourselves to determine our result. The second half proved no better and we conceded a very poor own goal. We left the field with nothing the disappointment.

There is a word we have in England, ‘Bouncebackability’. It is all one word and it is pretty self-explanatory, on the back of this weekend we will see the bouncebackability of the Reds, we will train harder and be 100% ready to get revenge on Moncton come Sunday afternoon. Next week the Blog’s title WILL be. ‘REDS WIN SECOND CONSECUTIVE HOME GAME’, and we WILL put in a performance we will all be proud of.
 
George Lawton