Royals not happy despite nine goal salvo
July 8, 2007
Ottawa Royals qualified for the third round of the Ottawa Cup with a comfortable 9-3 victory over Capital City Ambassadors at Pinecrest Park. Richard Boyle scored four, Dimitri Koutras three and Steve Kowlessar two.
The Royals started with Boyle and Koutras up front after the late withdrawal of Sylvain Cloutier for administrative reasons. With Greg Donnard on the right and Dan Deganutti on the left, and a central midfield trio of Rochon, Kowlessar and Marc Labrom, the Royals looked to play through the middle and release on the wings, protecting the back three of Marc Anthony Viscosi, James MacMillan and Frank Zegers and goalkeeper Tyler Wallace.
The Royals started very strongly and had created two clear-cut opportunities within three minutes. On 6 minutes, Deganutti played a good ball through to the forward-moving Dom Rochon, but his curled shot was saved well by goalkeeper Delon Young.
Two minutes later though, the away side opened the score through Dimitri Koutras. Richard Boyle played a ball into Kowlessar, who fed Koutras who neatly toepoked the ball past the stranded Young.
On 11 minutes, the Royals doubled their advantage and Koutras was again the scorer. Greg Donnard received the ball on the right wing and beat his man, getting to the bye-line and crossing into the box. Koutras had a relatively side-foot into the net.
Three minutes after that, Kowlessar made it 3-0, taking advantage of good work by Boyle to fire a shot in from 20 yards out. The ball took a wicked deflection and looped over the keeper into the back of the net.
On 21 minutes, Boyle made it 4-0, taking advantage of a Koutras pass into the box to beat the keeper one-on-one.
On 25 minutes, the Royals were awarded a penalty when Greg Donnard was pushed off the ball in the area. Kowlessar stepped up to send Young the wrong way and make it 5-0.
On 37 minutes, after a whole slew of Royals misses, Young produced a wonder save from a viciously struck Deganutti free kick, diving low to his right to palm the ball away for a corner. Bout one minute later, Boyle made it 6-0, once more combining well with Koutras to race into the box and slide the ball under the goalkeeper’s diving body.
On 42 minutes, the visitors had a goal wrongly disallowed. Donnard was free in the box but instead of shooting chose to pass the ball backwards to an unmarked Boyle. Boyle converted easily, but the referee’s assistant wrongly raised his flag.
Despite the warning, the Royals started the second half casually and on 48 minutes, Tyler Wallace was penalized for a foul in the box and gave away a penalty. Ahmed Emran comfortably converted to make the score 6-1. Wallace made up for it though on 52 minutes, when Emran rounded the defence and was through on goal. Wallace stood tall and prevented a goal with a fine reflex stop.
The Royals scored their seventh goal on 63 minutes with Dimitri Koutras bagging his first hattrick of the season after an excellent Jonathan Brooks cross. Two minutes later, the Ambassadors pulled back a second goal, following a superb free kick by Elias Chahine.
Still the Royals pressed forward, creating chance after chance. On 73 minutes, Richard Boyle finally scored his hattrick after some sterling work by Rochon in central midfield. Rochon fed Koutras just outside the area and the striker turned and fired in an excellent shot, which Young could only parry. Boyle was straight in to knock in the rebound.
Two minutes later, Boyle added the ninth and his own fourth, feeding off a Rochon pass down the middle.
Still the scoring was not finished, and on 78 minutes the CCA side scored its third of the evening, when a tame shot deceived Wallace and hit the back of the net.
Once again, the Royals contrived to give up avoidable goals and put themselves under pressure when the game is won. A combination of woeful defending and poor possession are at the root of this, with players remaining static and ball watching. The forwards, despite their nine goals today and four on Thursday, are also misfiring – and need to be much more clinical in their finishing. Nine goals is a great return, until you look at the number of shots and one-on-one situations that were not punished (17).
If the Royals work at keeping their shape and putting away their chances, they will improve and improve quickly. But until they do that, the overall feeling will ultimately be one of dissatisfaction. The Royals next face Limestone in the third round on July 15.
Man of the Match: 3 points – Richard Boyle, 2 points – Steve Kowlessar, 1 point – Dimitri Koutras
Richard Boyle’s four goals were sufficient for him to receive the man of the match award, but it was his second half link play that was the most impressive, feeding off Rochon and Kowlessar’s passes and distributing first time with ease.
Statistics
Ottawa Royals
1-Tyler Wallace; 5-Marc Anthony Viscosi, 3-James MacMillan (9-Dan Deganutti, 72), 24-Frank Zegers (6-Marc Labrom, 63); 19-Greg Donnard (16-Jonathan Brooks, 46), 11-Dom Rochon, 6-Marc Labrom (22-Ewan Lyttle, 46), 20-Steve Kowlessar, 9-Dan Deganutti (10-Alan Farant, 46); 17-Richard Boyle, 8-Dimitri Koutras (19-Greg Donnard, 80)
Yellow Cards: Marc Labrom, Dom Rochon
Goals: Richard Boyle 4 (21, 38, 73, 75 mins), Dimitri Koutras 3 (8, 11, 63 mins), Steve Kowlessar 2 (14, 25 mins)
Capital City Ambassadors
1-Delon Young; Ali Al-Hajari, Karar Al-Hajari, Ali Albadry, Ahmed Emran, Mustafa Falingo, Freddy Martinez, Michael Datson, Hassan Salman, Hassan Sharif, Abdellah Souaid, Mohammed Thabet, Elias Chahine, Faysal Ghazi, Abaidi Bounani
Goals: Emran 2, Chahine
Season Tally:
Goals: D’Angelo 11; Boyle 5; Kowlessar 4; Devereaux, Koutras 3, Clouthier, J. Gutierrez, Ntwari 2; Brooks 1
Assists: Brooks, Koutras, Rochon 4; Boyle, Deganutti 3; Donnard, J. Gutierrez, 2; D’Angelo, Dennis, Devereaux, Kowlessar 1
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