U15s avenge loss
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Tillsonburg Hydro Inc. U15s avenged an earlier loss to Middlesex United with a 2-1 loss Friday night at the Tillsonburg Minor Soccer Park.
“They beat us the last time, 2-1,” said Tillsonburg Hydro Inc. coach John Twinem. “The exact same thing. And at the end of the game, the last time we played them, we were pressuring real hard. We put a ball off the crossbar and a ball off the post.”
The loss in Strathroy on May 27, said Twinem, gave them ‘strong a desire to prove something.’
Friday’s game was a battle between the LDYSL’s top two L5 soccer teams – undefeated Middlesex United, and Tillsonburg, who only had one regular season loss.
“This was the battle for first place.”
After the game, coach Twinem talked about fitness, and the need to be even more fit for their next rematch.
“Fitness was good tonight. What we did tonight, we linked from front to back a little bit better. The way that Middlesex sets up their play, it’s a very long structure, so we’ve got a lot of field to cover. Our were able to extend our formation more, and then bring the back end up behind.”
Middlesex boasts a big, strong and fast team, said Twinem.
“Their team is just a bigger, stronger, faster team than ours – on average. So they lengthen the field out counting on the fact that their horses are better than the other people’s horses.”
That meant Tillsonburg had to increase the number of players in the attacking zone.
“When we did, that produced opportunities.”
The Titans added four new players this season. After a strong run last season, the 7-1-0 Tillsonburg Hydro Inc. U15s, currently leading the division, will have another good shot at promotion.
“We should have promoted last year but a couple of early bad results kept us out. They are capable of promoting, and we’ve beaten a couple L3 teams we played in exhibitions this season. And we beat L3 teams at tournaments, too.
“We got into a decent tournament at the start of the season, West Niagara. That was actually a higher level tournament – they run two levels, and they let us in a more competitive international tournament. The boys got into the semis.”
Scoring for Tillsonburg Friday night were Liam Warnock and Jarred Wilcox.