Electric City Football Club Allow Extra Time Comeback for 2-2 Draw
/It was rough times for Electric City Football Club (ECFC) as they coughed up a third consecutive home lead in extra time, tying Alliance United FC to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday evening.
An Alliance United Player with ECFC Zak Drake (right) moments after full time. Electric City has allowed a goal in extra time in three consecutive home games. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Electric City’s prior two home matches with conceded extra-time goals started with a 3-3 draw against Burlington SC, allowing three unanswered goals in the second half including two penalty kicks (with the second in extra time) on July 13.
They lost in extra time to the Simcoe County Rovers FC allowing two goals in the 86th minute and extra time for a 2-1 loss on July 23rd.
“It's frustrating conceding goals late over the past few matches,” said Randy Riberio, ECFC head coach. We can't afford to do it, we have to be locked in, switched on for everything that gets thrown at us. We know their team is down and they need to score a goal so they're going to throw whatever they have and we need to be better at dealing with it.
Both teams exchanged scoring chances early in the first half. ECFC goalkeeper Quillan Roberts intercepted multiple balls launched high in the air from free and corner kicks to keep the game scoreless.
ECFC struck first as midfielder Mohammad Reza-Nafar scored his fourth of the season. He shot from outside the box, beating Alliance keeper Praveen Ahilan in the lower left corner for the 1-0 lead in the 30th minute.
Tomas Alverez tapped in a one-timed pass from Ethan Gopaul to make it 2-0 in the 37th minute to extend ECFC’s lead into the half. That was Alverez’s second goal of the season, scoring last against the ProStars FC on May 21.
Alliance got on the board in the 73rd minute as Atchu Sivananthan knocked in a header off a sideline pass, beating a diving Roberts making it 2-1.
ECFC’s Adrian Gallo turned over the ball and Alliance’s Kingsley Belele almost capitalized on the mistake with a high-quality scoring chance. Roberts was able to make a diving save on the low corner to maintain the 2-1 lead.
Alliance’s Samuel Gardner earned a red card in the 84th minute making the team’s comeback bid more difficult.
Gopaul almost clinched the game for ECFC going for the top corner but just went outside the post.
Roberts mishandled the ball off an errant play from Alliance and fielded out of bounds for a corner kick. He chose to play the ball instead of allowing it to roll out of bounds for a corner kick. Riberio was unsure if Roberts had the option allow the ball to roll out or not.
Alliance capitalized on their final opportunity as Nirun Sivananthan was able to kick it past Roberts from a contested header to tie the game moments before extra time expired.
“I thought we were the better team, we never looked like we were conceding a goal until the final 10 minutes of the match which was unfortunate,” explained Riberio. “We need to create opportunities to put the game away and if we would have had the next goal to make it 3-0, I think that game's out of reach.”
Playoff clinching scenario for ECFC (to earn the sixth seed):
ECFC must win all three remaining games and;
Alliance United FC and Guelph United lose all their remaining games and;
Hamilton United cannot win all their remaining games
