Chatham Express Narrowly Defeat the Wallaceburg Sting

As the Wallaceburg Sting continued their 2011 season, they took on their closely knitted rivals, the Chatham Express, Friday, August 5th. After having narrowly lost to them 1-0 on the road in their season-opener, the Sting looked to rebound and split the season series. The Sting were still looking for their first victory of the season, an ever-growing burden that seems to have overshadowed a still successful transition to a more ball possession style of game.

The game got off to a slow start, with neither team really maintaining control of game. It was more or less a back and forth affair that saw a lot of neutral zone turnovers and missed opportunities due to rushing a developing play. This would become the theme of the game in its entirety, with no flow really being shown consistently throughout the game from either side. Rather than moving the ball with crisp passes along the ground and waiting for an opportunity to present itself, the game became more of a kick-and-chase style in many instances. One team would lose possession as they were trying to move up field, and their opponent chose the quick strike opportunity by sending the ball past or over top the defenders for their forwards to run onto.

Approximately 30 minutes into the first half, a quick strike chance paid off, unfortunately though, in favour of the opposition. Chatham gained control of the ball near midfield and sent a through-ball down the right wing to an attacking forward. The Wallaceburg defenders stood and watched, anticipating a whistle for what they thought was an offside opponent receiving the ball. However, the linesman never raised his flag, and the attacker broke in wide down the right wing line. As a Sting defender began to converge on a Chatham attacker just inside the 18-yard box who was running out of real estate as he neared the goalline, rather than try and beat the defender, he laid the ball off high into the central area of the 18-yard box. Perhaps still caught off guard by the non-offside call, several Sting defenders watched what was transpiring rather than marking up and continuing with play. As a result, an unmarked Chatham midfielder ran onto the nicely placed ball and hammered it into the back of the net, leaving the Sting keeper only the hope that the ball might hit him on its path to the net, which it didn’t. The score read 1-0 Chatham at halftime.

The second half was more of the same quick break opportunities that saw both teams still trying to create and attack. Chatham didn’t sit back defensively on their 1-0 lead and continued to threaten down the left wing for the majority of their second half opportunities. Chatham was the more aggressive team throughout both halves, purposefully attacking loose balls with aggression and seemingly winning every ball in the air. Their physicality and aggression was superior to that of the Sting players, who didn’t seem to show up with the same fervour we’ve come to expect. Whether it was Chatham’s prowess on the ball, be it on the ground or through the air, or Wallaceburg’s lackluster performance, neither helped the Sting’s cause, seeing them fall to their rivals from just down the road. The loan first half goal was enough to earn Chatham the season sweep of the home-and-home series vs. Wallaceburg by the exact same result, 1-0.

This was the last game of the season for two of the Sting’s starting forwards, as both Brandon Watson (team’s leading scorer) and Phil Nywening head off to begin training for their school soccer team, in Oshawa & Iowa, respectively.
The Sting, now 0-6-5 (wins-ties-loss) next take their game on the road, to take on London Croatia on Sunday, August 14th at 6pm.