Report: Ottawa Royals 3, St. Anthony's 1

The llama fails to spoil the show, Royals down Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s
July 29, 2007

Ottawa Royals provided further evidence that it is becoming a team to be reckoned with on Sunday as it defeated the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s by a score of 3-1 at Maple Leaf Almrausch. James MacMillan, Sylvain Clouthier and Ryan Devereaux scored for the Royals, while Simon Bonk scored the St. Anthony’s consolation goal.

Both teams went into the match on the back of strong wins against Quebec sides – the Royals beating UNIDOS 6-2 and St. Anthony’s defeating the Lions de Hull 4-0. Prior to kick off, however, the confidence was definitely with the visiting side, as the Royals were without Jonathan Brooks (suspension), Frank Zegers, Tyler Wallace (who dislocated his finger picking up a particularly heavy chicken wing), Frank Dicaria (broken toe), Sanjeev Parma (mono), Roberto Gutierrez (ankle), Marc Anthony Viscosi (hamstring), Alic Edgar (fractured foot), Matt D’Angelo (with the national university team in Thailand) and Dimitri Koutras (MIA). On top of this, captain Dom Rochon tweaked his groin in the Thursday game against UNIDOS and so was unable to start.

As a result, the home side had drafted in veteran defender Rob Shaw for his first game in Premier of the season and had old-timer goalkeeper Antoine Lagarec in the nets. Ewan Lyttle was back from his stay at a Nova Scotia health farm, Ryan Devereaux had driven back from London, Ont., in 3 hours 45 minutes, Marc Labrom was straight out of his flower arranging class in Montreal (smelling strangely of peppermints) and Richard Boyle’s Flushing Meadows morning had left the fresh-faced private ruddy cheeked and unable to string together three words in a cogent or logical phrase.

It promised to be interesting.

The Royals reverted back to a 3-5-2 formation: Lagarec in goal, a defensive line of Shaw, MacMillan and Labrom, Bole on the right side of midfield, Lyttle in the defensive midfield role, Kowlessar and Gutierrez in front of him and Deganutti on the left. Up front, Clouthier and Devereaux started their first match together since the Gloucester Hornets fiasco, when the Royals had been seemingly unable to hit Ewan Lyttle’s arse with a banjo.

The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s, meanwhile, welcomed back Roland Tiamuh to play against his former club.

The Royals opened the game on the offensive and were dominant from the off. On five minutes, the Royals got a corner on the right, which was whipped in by Dan Deganutti. The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s semi-cleared the ball, which landed back out by the corner flag. Deganutti, his blond locks flowing in the sultry breeze that engulfed the majestic Almrausch stadium, adjusted a loose strand, knocked the ball two inches to his left, then pinpointed a wickedly dipping cross straight at the head of James MacMillan. MacMillan soared like a salmon, hung in midair for what seemed an eternity, checked his watch and then powered a header into the side of the net to give the Royals the lead. MacMillan had regained his place in defence before Wong hit the ground.

The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s looked aghast. As well they might. This was MacMillan’s first goal in a competitive match since 1972, when he helped the Nerds beat the Jocks in a thrilling 1-0-1-1-0 to nil victory. And his first ever with his eyes open.

The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s hit back and were unlucky not to score soon after when Gagou’s header hit the top of the crossbar. On 16 minutes though, Kowlessar’s dipping shot from 30 yards dipped inches over the bar. And from the resulting goal kick, the Royals doubled their lead.

Sylvain Clouthier had until this time had a relatively quiet day. A couple of minor skirmished with defender Ledi Bushiri, the occasional clinical pass, a lot of running and the odd thinly disguised insult in Joyal at the referee.

But when Angus Wong slightly underhit his goal kick, the Cantley panther sprang into action, leaping acrobatically in the air to control the ball with the outside of his right foot, before readjusting in midair and firing a first time shot into the corner of the net. It was an excellent goal, easily the best goal scored by a Quebecker in this match.

The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s were now in disarray and the Royals were denied a cast-iron penalty on 28 minutes when Deganutti was pushed over from behind in the penalty area. Referee Popescu originally seemed to have awarded a penalty – then changed his mind to a goal kick – all without changing the direction he was pointing in. Imagine, if you will, Basil Fawlty without the moustache, goose-stepping his way to the penalty area, crouching down low, pointing at the penalty spot and shouting “Goal Kick”.

Fawlty, who has a long track record of getting penalties wrong (four poor decisions in the previous Thursday’s game alone), continued his fine tradition of ineptitude by booking Deganutti. The Italian Stallion joined the King of Cantley in the book, Clouthier having momentarily lapsed into comprehensible French in the referee’s earshot.

Still, the Royals remained in control of the match: on 35 minutes, Wong made amends for his previous aberration by making a superb one-handed save off Clouthier and two minutes later, defence splitting passing carved open the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s once more, with the final effort being inches wide.

On 44 minutes, Jorge Gutierrez, who had worked tirelessly alongside the Silent Knight in midfield, missed a great opportunity to make it 3-0, which would surely have wrapped up the match there and then. Instead, the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s came upfield and forced a corner.

In an exact repeat of the match-winning goal ten days previously, the outswinging ball found the lofty frame of Simon Bonk loitering on the edge of the area. Unmarked, Bonk got his head to the ball and lofted it over the advanced Antoine Lagarec, off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net. After 45 minutes of generally excellent football, the Royals had opened the door to the visitors.

This is a lesson that the Royals appear to not have learned from the start of the season. Despite dominating the majority of the games in which they have played, the team loses focus at key moments and concedes avoidable goals. The litany of woe is long indeed: Capital United, Gloucester, UNIDOS, Lions de Hull, Internationals, Hearts Azzurri – all either beaten or about to be beaten, when a soft goal is conceded. It either costs the team points or makes a routine win a scramble.

The second half began, not surprisingly, with the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s on the attack, although for every half chance they obtained, the Royals hit back on the counter and created one of their own. With the front two of Clouthier and Nova Scotian NASCAR wunderkind Ryan Devereaux up front, Bonk and Bushiri were tested to the full. With Dan Deganutti removed at half time, Alan Farant stepped seamlessly into the left-hand side midfield role and held his own against very fast competition.

On 60 minutes, Michael Adams replaced the flagging Ewan “Two Bellies” Lyttle with Long John Rochon, the one-legged midfield maestro (“Did I tell you about River Plate?”) with no groin but an eye for a killer pass. Three minutes later, Ryan Devereaux crawled off the pitch for a breather and was replaced by Ninja Ntwari, the Burundi ululater. Ntwari carried on where Devereaux had left off, his searing pace troubling the back three constantly – and of course he is so polite!

It took the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s defence a while to realize that they didn’t have to answer every time Ntwari said hello. “Hi!” he would shout before launching off on a rampaging run down the left. “Hi!” they would wonder aloud, before setting off in hot pursuit. “Hi!” he would say, waving for a ball from the midfield. “Hi!” they would answer, confused. Make no mistake, this is a vital weapon in the Ninja armoury – and had it not been for the insider information from Rowland Tiamuh, it might have carried on all game. As it was, Ntwari was mainly used to give Devereaux a breather in this game, but the speedy striker is definitely one for the future.

The game continued at a frantic pace, with St. Anthony’s launching everything in attack and the Royals matching them in defence and then hitting back quickly on the counter. As St. Anthony’s threw an extra man forward, coach Michael Adams foolhardily decided to keep two up front, aided in the decision by the sterling defensive work of his team and the constant threat posed by the strikers.

When Clouthier thrashed a dipping shot against the crossbar on 86 minutes, it looked like the gamble might not pay off. But with Gutierrez, Kowlessar and Rochon dominant in the middle and the unit shifting well to cover all attacks, it looked like a reasonable bet.

On 89 minutes, Rob Shaw took a quick free kick to Kowlessar who in turn fed Devereaux. Devereaux sprang once more the high offside trap used by the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s and showing incredible stamina, sprinted to the edge of the area. Carefully waiting until Wong had committed himself, Devereaux placed the ball perfectly under the advancing keeper’s body into the back of the net.

Cue mayhem. Devereaux’s goal is further evidence of the unquestionable ability of the Nova Scotian. After a slow start in the OCSL where he was dogged by injury, Devereaux has now fully recovered and looks a constant threat in games. His performances in the past three games in particular have been exceptional.

As the home side was celebrating, one of the more unsavoury incidents took place. Having been endlessly frustrated by the Royals’ Mexican mannequin Jorge Gutierrez all afternoon, Edgar Soglo decided it would be appropriate to send a huge pile of gob at him, spraying the Mexican’s shoulder with spittle. To his credit, Gutierrez didn’t react – and merely informed referee Fawlty who had, unsurprisingly, not seen it.

But the game ended in a tense and unpleasant manner – and remonstrations were loud and acrimonious after the game. We await to see what the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s will do about the incident.

Still, whatever happens to the llama, the Royals still won – and three points against the Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s is three points. The Royals move up to second place in the standings with two games in hand over the third-placed team Capital United.

Next up is the return match against Ottawa Internationals – a team that is committed and strong and will give the resurgent Royals a good run for their money on Thursday night.

Man of the Match: 3 points – James MacMillan, 2 points – Ryan Devereaux & Sylvain Clouthier, 1 point – Antoine Lagarec

Statistics
Ottawa Royals
1-Antoine Lagarec; 21-Rob Shaw, 3-James MacMillan, 6-Marc Labrom; 17-Richard Boyle (13-Jeff Dennis, 74 mins), 15-Steve Kowlessar, 2-Ewan Lyttle (11-Dom Rochon, 59 mins), 18-Jorge Gutierrez, 9-Dan Deganutti (12-Alan Farant, 46 mins); 19-Ryan Devereaux (4-Thierry Ntwari, 61 mins; 19-Ryan Devereaux 74 mins), 7-Sylvain Clouthier

Yellow Cards: Sylvain Clouthier, Dan Deganutti, Jorge Gutierrez, Marc Labrom

Goals: James MacMillan (5 mins), Sylvain Clouthier (17 mins), Ryan Devereaux (89 mins)

The Canadian National Champions™ St. Anthony’s
1-Angus Wong; 6-Simon Bonk, 4-Ledi Bushiri, 11-Souleymane Gagou, 21-Johnny Legakis, 8-Alain Nijima, 20-Allan Popazzi, 10-Johnny Schieda, 12-Edgar “The Llama” Soglo, 18-Claudio Vennegas, 28-Roland Tiamuh, 17-Will Beauge

Yellow Cards: Edgar “The Llama” Soglo

Goals: Bonk (45 mins)

Season Tally:
Goals: D’Angelo 11; Devereaux 9; Boyle 7; Kowlessar 5; J. Gutierrez 4; Clouthier, Koutras 3, MacMillan, Ntwari 2; Brooks, 1

Assists: Brooks, 7; Deganutti, 5; Koutras, Rochon 4; Boyle, Kowlessar, 3; D’Angelo, Devereaux, Donnard, J. Gutierrez, 2; Clouthier, Dennis, Lyttle 1