YFC 3 – 0 West Van Royals
Ambleside Park in West Vancouver was the glamorous setting for Yaletown FC’s opening game of the 2009-10 season against the affluent West Van Royals. Several big money off season signings made for a new look YFC team with a total of 6 new players in the starting line up.
As the game kicked off under beautiful clear skies both teams struggled early on to assert their dominance on the game. Poor control, sloppy passing and a lack of communication all contributed to scrappy opening 30 minutes. Goal scoring chances were at a premium and new striker Simon Doran’s audacious Merz-esque 30-yard overhead kick was the only entertaining highlight in an otherwise barren first half. YFC did however build their momentum towards the end of the first 45 and by the time the half came to a close it was clear that Yaletown had regained their composure and begun to seize control of the game.
This dominance continued to build during the early stages of the second half but legitimate scoring chances were still few and far between. This all changed at the 60th minute mark as Simon Doran latched onto a pinpoint Alex Serna through ball and unleashed an unstoppable left footed drive into the opposite corner of the goal from just outside of the box. The strike brought rapturous applause from the travelling YFC faithful and even some of the West Van locals in attendance rattled their jewellery in approval.
The goal took what little wind Royals had left out their sails and further energised YFC who had begun to hit full stride. Increased intensity and renewed confidence was eventually rewarded 10 minutes later when Nima Farahmand chased down a long ball and pressured the Royals centre back into deftly chipping his own onrushing keeper to make it 2-0. That’s the best way I can explain it, you had to be there. Naturally Farahmand claimed the goal.
By now the teething problems of the first half were long forgotten and even after a number of tactical substitutions, YFC never broke stride. The pre-season fitness sessions seemed to pay off as YFC continued to keep their shape and discipline throughout the 90 minutes. The strong performance was capped off by an incisive diagonal run by Adam Jennings who hammered home a deflected shot into the bottom right hand corner from just inside the 18 yard box.
From there on in the game was comfortably wrapped up with keeper Bradley Bodenhammer claiming an impressive debut shut out behind a equally strong defensive line. Man of the match went to the tireless David Farris for his versatile display in both defence and midfield. Yaletown look to build on this opening win when they take on the enigmatically titled Firefighter C-letcs this coming Friday night at Andy Livingstone.