Pioneers Spring a Leak

Delta United 3 Richmond Pioneers 3

Richmond Pioneers traveled to not-so-sunny Tsawwassen on Sunday to meet Delta United. On the cosy confines of a bumpy Beach Grove field, the Pioneers dug themselves a hole by conceding three first half goals, but came back to tie it 3-3, denied of victory by some heroics from the Delta goalkeeper, and some wayward finishing.

The Pioneers only had one acknowledged forward in the starting line up, with Evgeni Kushnir and John Tsang both missing. And Stan Bogdanovich's day started badly (and would get worse, more later) as the technologically-challenged midfielder was apparently scouring Richmond trying to find the game, before realizing it's always a good practice to read your email or look at websites once in a while! He arrived with less than 10 minutes to play.

Delta got off to an early lead when their left winger ran by a couple of statues (oops sorry, I mean Pioneer defenders) to send over a cross that was converted with ease. The Pioneers tied it up when a nice interplay between Graham Mason, Dennis Luk and Ken Johnston ended with Mason powering the ball past the Delta keeper.

The Pioneers were enjoying most of the possession, but Delta punished the toothless Pioneer defence twice more to take a 3-1 lead midway through the first half. The Pioneer back four were in complete disarray on both goals, although Delta took their chances well.

The defence finally tightened up, and the Pioneers were dominating possession, pulling a goal back just before half time when Denis Harvington beat the keeper with a long range effort.

Down 3-2 at the intermission, the second half was virtually one way traffic with the Pioneers pushing hard for the equalizer. At times, the goalmouth action was frantic, and the Delta keeper was making some heroic saves. He was lucky too, when a shot from Harvington hit the crossbar and bounced down just in front of the line, and Ken "What time is the game?" Swanston had a glorious chance to score with only the keeper to beat, yet he somehow pulled his shot wide.

The Pioneers finally got the tying goal when a Jim Fitzgerald free kick found Ken Johnston, whose glancing header left the Delta keeper with no chance.

But try as they might, the Pioneers couldn't produce a winner, and had to settle for a disappointing 3-3 tie.

Stan Bogdanovich, whose estimated 8 minutes of playing time included 3 minutes lying on the ground with a concussion, returned to the parking lot to find his car radiator had sprung more leaks than the Pioneer defence. A fitting end to a frustrating morning.

Next week: We're off to Penticton for the Annual Tournament.

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