Yaletown FC Looking for Players

Yaletown FC is looking for Central Defenders and Midfielders to join the Winter 09-10 roster. 

Players interested, must attend a few training sessions and show the  level of skills and commitment required by the club.

For info on place and time of tryouts click on Training (Top of the screen) or email yaletownfc@hotmail.com

Unicorn FC 1-2 YFC

Yaletown boys started their Sunday away game socialising under a tent as the Vancouver weather pissed down like it was the end of times. Even though short handed on subs, the boys in red where determined to grab full points of their long journey to Livingston East turf, roughly 2 meters away from their home field; Livingston West.

The starting whistle saw Yaletown disoriented in their efforts to contain an attacking Unicorns FC, but the Unicorn front men seemed to have left their scoring boots at home, missing a few open nets.  After an iffy first 10 minutes, Yaletown had only started to take control of the game and push forward when their Adam Jennings was brought down to the ground and landed awkwardly. Adam who seemed to have injured his shoulder in the process was later forced to leave the game, and was replaced by later announced Man of The Match Sherman Lai. Half time whistle was later blown with Yaletown having controlled most of the last 30 minutes of the 1^st half.

With no subs, YFC started second half with the same format, but conceded a goal on the 10 minute mark against the run of play. The goal behind seemed to have only further motivated YFC boys as they pushed for an equaliser. Dan Rankin and Will Meredith came very close to opening the score sheets but their efforts were met by the post or saved by Unicorn’s goalie. However, it did not take long for YFC’s effort to be rewarded with a goal, and the matter could not have been more dramatic. It all started when Sherman Lai (playing as a forward) dived to head Meredith’s cross from the right hand side but the unicorn goalie managed to push Lai’s super heroic header to the post. The return ball however, was met by Pierce Joneson’s unstoppable shot through the Unicorn defence and into the net. 1-1 and the game was on.

YFC boys, however, were not satisfied with a draw and it was around the 80^th minute mark that Dan Rankin’s great through pass to Sherman Lai, saw him escape the offside trap and place the ball from the right side of the 18yards box into the back of the net. The goal not only saw YFC to a 2-1 lead, but also caused too much frustration for the Unicorn goalie, who was red carded due to shoving Lai to the ground after he was set to celebrate his goal.

With 10 minutes to go, YFC fought hard to keep the results to their favour with goalkeeper Bradley Bodenhammer saving and blocking many shots and cross. Unicorn’s last effort was met by Peter Rossing’s clearing header.

With the whistle blown, the very tired YFC team had played hard and have moved up to third position on the table.

YFC 0 – 3 Burnaby Fury A

Scoreline says it all really, Burnaby showed up and Yaletown didn’t. To be fair to the boys the first 15 minutes were great, some good pressure down the right wing and great movement in midfield. An injury to Peter McHugh, who ended up with a golf ball sized, bleeding lump on his knee, took the bite out of the YFC midfield and this led to some pressure from Burnaby. From then on they used a strict diet of hardwork and pressure to unsettle the YFC back four, who were playing their first match together due to suspension and other players being away. A chain of mistakes, first on the right of the pitch led to a ball through the middle that was missed, gifted a Burnaby forward with a clean look at goal and he finished clinically leaving Brad Bodenhammer with no chance on the shot. Burnaby to their credit smelled blood in the water and mounted some serious pressure in the YFC third. They were rewarded when a corner wasn’t cleared properly and after bouncing around the 18 a shot went agonizingly over Brad in goal after a Burnaby player got a deflection he knew nothing about. At that point the wind visibly went out of Yaletown’s sails and another goal was conceded in similarly disorganized fashion after failed clearances and miscommunication opened the door for the Fury. Three to none before half time.

The second half saw Burnaby make a few substitutions and take their foot off the pedal a bit, Yaletown played better and Adam Jennings, who worked his ass off in midfield, had a shot go off the base of the post. It just wasn’t YFC’s day in any sense of the phrase. Simon Doran was sent off towards the end of the match for his second yellow card offense, the first for accidentally kicking the ball away after a whistle and the second for a 50-50 challenge on their keeper. Another ref, another day and Simon wouldn’t have had a yellow at all, say no more…

The result was a bit of a shock to the system after having played quite well the week before, but as it is every year in VMSL the players have responsibilities outside of football and YFC have to put out a solid side no matter what and perform no matter what. That certainly wasn’t the case against Burnaby and hopefully this result will be a learning experience for the team and they can be better prepared for next time. Well done to Burnaby, well deserved and were certainly the better team on the night.

Bosna 0 – 1 YFC

Yaletown bounced back effectively after last week’s disappointment against a sturdy Bosna team that has had many an eventful match versus YFC over the years. Thankfully this sunny Sunday was an exception and a good, clean (yet solid) game unfolded over at Adanac Park. The only blemishes on the day being only one goal scored, Adie going down with possible knee ligament damage (get well soon mate!) and Darryl getting his bells rung like Westminster Abbey and while lying on the pitch massaging the goods, proceeded to give the ref an earful for not stopping play… wait that was actually one of the high points!

Nima Farahmand was the hero on the day after scoring the most improbable of headers, only because if you’ve seen Nima head a ball in training then you’ll understand, from an inch-perfect cross down the left wing. Nima squeezed it in at the back post from the tightest of angles, from the sideline it seemed as though he was about to smash his face against the joint of the crossbar, excellent commitment from the Persian Persuasion. The rest of the first half played out in YFC’s favour with quite a few chances that all went begging, particularly a scramble in Bosna’s 6 yard box that could’ve been finished any number of ways but wasn’t, the luck just wasn’t there.

Anyhow, it was a fine display from YFC dominating play for the rest of the match with exception of the final 20 minutes when Peter McHugh was sent to the sideline to remove two small earrings after a Bosna player complained to the ref that they were “flashing in his eyes”… alright then. Shortly after Peter returned to the field, personally making sure the Bosna player’s eyes were ok, Adie went down in a heap forcing the boys to soldier on with 10 men for 10-15 minutes because all substitutions had been made. This caused a bit of disruption in the team’s shape and Bosna had a spell of pressure, culminating in some spectacular dives in the 18 yard box. One such dive was a near perfect 10 triple-axle effort near the 6 yard box that was accompanied by a terrific shriek that really had to be seen and heard to be believed. Drogba couldn’t have done it better.

On to next week’s friday night match against Burnaby Fury A, who are occupying the 5th position in the standings on 6 points, 3 behind the mighty YFC.

YFC 1 – 2 PCOV A

After a flyer of a start to the VMSL Div 2 season Yaletown Football Club fell to a strong, organized and determined PCOV team on Friday, September 25th. It was a game where perhaps the boys were believing in their own hype a bit after starting so well, but PCOV quickly taught them a stern lesson in a match that could’ve easily ended 5-1 had their forwards been more clinical. Sherman Lai had a strong match in his return between the sticks but was powerless to prevent the scoreline, he was left to fend for himself on a couple occasions when the YFC defense uncharacteristically let men through 2 on the keeper. Peter McHugh played a strong match at center midfield and bagged a goal to prove it, however the team effort was the issue on the night for Yaletown and they’ve taken this as a wake up call against complacent play for the remainder of the season. Well done to PCOV, fully deserved and YFC will be waiting for the return fixture.