Vancouver FC was shut out by York United 1-0 Sunday afternoon at York Lions Stadium.
It was York's first victory since their season opener. After a brace against Vancouver in their first meeting, Julian Altobelli was the hero again for York with his sixth of the season in the 29th minute -- tying Atl茅tico Ottawa's Samuel Salter for the Golden Boot lead.
York United held on for what was also their first home victory of the season, and ended a six-match winless streak.
VFC had some extra time to ties the score when 10 minutes of stoppage time were added at the end of the match. But York kept Vancouver at bay on a dangerous free kick in the dying seconds to deny Vasco Fry.
鈥淚 think we created a lot of opportunities to equalize the game and win again, and you have to take your chances," commented Vancouver FC Head Coach Afshin Ghotbi. " I think we had enough chances to equalize, and I feel that's something we struggled with all season, to score goals.鈥�
After a strong performance against Cavalry FC in the Canadian Championship midweek, Ghotbi made just one forced change to his starting eleven -- replacing the suspended Kunle Dada-Luke.
After Vancouver fell behind in the 29th minute and rarely threatened the York area Ghotbi shuffled his deck in the second half, however, bringing off Terran Campbell and replacing him with Juan Batista. He also shifted Elage Bah over to the right wing.
It nearly immediately made an impact, with Bah coming close just a minute after the half. From there, Vancouver FC dominated the second half from a possessional standpoint.
They consistently got the ball into good areas, finishing the match with 66 final third entries, 19 touches in the opposition box. However, none of their ten shots were on target 鈥� with th exception of one attempt from Batista hitting the crossbar.
Next, Eagles, are back at home where they host Atl茅tico Ottawa on Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m. at the 91原创 Events Centre.
