Royals win the Ottawa Cup with defiant display
August 19, 2007
A Ryan Devereaux hattrick paved the way for the Ottawa Royals to win the Ottawa Cup on Sunday, defeating a brave Nepean Hotspurs side at the last and helping the Blues come back from a two-goal deficit.
The Royals were struggling to field a starting eleven at the beginning of the match, but could at least count on Antoine Lagarec in the nets, restoring Sylvain Clouthier to his striker’s role after his heroics in Thursday’s game against the Rockers.
With Alan Farant, Dom Rochon, Thierry Ntwari and Dimitri Koutras all playing injured, until Richard Boyle’s arrival ten minutes before kick off, the Royals had eleven players. Boyle’s arrival was timely, because within 90 seconds of the start, Rochon’s injury flared up again and he had to leave the field.
The Royals started brightly and Dimitri Koutras, playing out right, had the first opportunity to score on 4 minutes, following some good work from Thierry Ntwari on the left. Ntwari was having a bright opening on the left flank, causing Nepean’s right back all sorts of problems with his pace. On 7 minutes, his incisive pass to Steve Kowlessar almost produced the opening goal.
The Royals play followed a similar pattern to most games this season. Inventive and bright approach play that created chances for the hardworking attacking players. The Royals midfield, comprising Jorge Gutierrez, Steve Kowlessar and Richard Boyle, was winning most of the challenges, and not allowing the Hotspurs to settle.
On 25 minutes, the Royals almost opened the scoring. Ryan Devereaux had drifted out right to retrieve a ball, beat his man, cut to the by-line and then whipped in a cross for Richard Boyle. Boyle’s first time volley cannoned off the cross bar and went out for a goal kick.
Within two minutes though, the Royals were a goal down. Having started very well, the defence for once failed to deal with a bouncing ball and Mackey was on hand to belt the ball past the blameless Lagarec.
The Royals responded – and within four minutes, the excellent Devereaux almost found the equalizer, forcing an excellent save out of Rassi in the Nepean goal.
But on 35 minutes, the Royals went further behind following a well-taken goal by Allard.
This time, the Royals sparked into life – and within five minutes, they were back on level terms. First, on 38 minutes, Clouthier’s precise and powerful free kick from 20 yards out left Rassi no chance – and then sixty seconds later, Steve Kowlessar’s perfectly weighted pass released Ryan Devereaux at the edge of the box, and the Halifax striker curled the ball around the advancing keeper into the roof of the net.
The tide seemed to have turned, and the Royals mounted the pressure, stretching Nepean on the flanks and penetrating through the middle. On 40 minutes, late arrival Dan Deganutti had a powerful shot well saved and then sixty seconds later, Clouthier missed by inches following more excellent approach work.
The Royals were not to be denied, however, and on 44 minutes, Devereaux scored his second of the afternoon, converting at the second attempt from a Sylvain Clouthier pass.
In the second half, the game continued its frantic pace and somewhat against the run of play, Nepean managed an equalizer on 53 minutes, well taken by Barbosa.
The game was then dominated by the Royals, who probed and pushed, looking for their fourth goal. Clouthier and Devereaux both came close, but were denied by last-gasp defending or good goalkeeping.
Any counter attacks from the Hotspurs team were snuffed out by the excellent defensive core of James MacMillan, Frank Zegers, Alan Farant and Dan Deganutti.
As both teams began to tire in the merciless sun, it looked as if extra time would be needed to decide the final.
But from somewhere, the Royals found a little extra strength. Thierry Ntwari was awarded a free kick to the left of the penalty area, which Jorge Gutierrez stood over and took. He whipped in the ball with pace to the penalty area, where Devereaux twisted in mid-air to glance a header over the defenders into the roof of the net.
On the balance of play, it was no more than the Royals deserved – and was a fitting reward for the courage and strength shown by the team under very difficult and testing circumstances.
James MacMillan, stand-in captain for Dominic Rochon, lifted the trophy, which provides some consolation to the team for its efforts during a difficult season.
Man of the Match: 3 points – Ryan Devereaux, 2 points – James MacMillan, 1 point – Sylvain Clouthier
Statistics
Ottawa Royals
1-Antoine Lagarec; 8-Frank Zegers, 3-James MacMillan, 16-Alan Farant (4-Thierry Ntwari, 68); 21-Dimitri Koutras (9-Dan Deganutti, 35), 15-Steve Kowlessar, 14-Jorge Gutierrez, 11-Dom Rochon (17-Richard Boyle, 1), 4-Thierry Ntwari (21-Dimitri Koutras, 56); 20-Sylvain Clouthier, 23-Ryan Devereaux
Yellow Cards: Richard Boyle, James MacMillan
Goals: Sylvain Clouthier (38 mins), Ryan Devereaux (39, 44, 90 mins)
Nepean Hotspurs
1-Alex Rassi, 21-Adam Knight, 4-Sean Mackey, 5-Mahmoud Matar, 6-Bryan Fracassi, 7-Matt Akehurst, 9-Feraidon Yary, 10-Ramon Canales, 11-Paul Seymour, 12-Brendan Potter, 14-Tokunbo Ojo, 16-Jamie Allard, 21-Luis Barbosa, 18-Matthew Ouies, 20-Nikolay Belevski, 230-Mario Maniscallo, 15-Richard Poulton
Yellow Cards: Feraidon Yary, Ramon Canales, Richard Poulton
Goals: Sean Mackey (27 mins), Jamie Allard (35 mins), Luis Barbosa (53 mins)
Season Tally:
Goals: Devereaux, 14; D’Angelo, 11; Boyle 8; J. Gutierrez, Kowlessar 5; Clouthier, 4; Koutras, MacMillan, Ntwari 3; Brooks, 1
Assists: Brooks, 10; Boyle, Deganutti, 5; Koutras, Kowlessar, Rochon 4; Clouthier, J. Gutierrez, 3; D’Angelo, Devereaux, Donnard, 2; Dennis, Lyttle, Ntwari 1
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