Valour FC captain Raphael Ohin plopped down into a chair in the media room following a nil-nil home draw with York United FC Sunday afternoon and the look his face was an obvious tell.
"Very disappointing," said the veteran midfielder. "This is not the result we wanted. We wanted all three (points). It was not the cleanest game. The first half was not the cleanest game, but this is what we have to do sometimes when things are not going your way -- you have to fight and hold onto the zero-zero after the first half and not concede.
"We came back strong in the second half but unfortunately could not get the three points. But sometimes when you don't have the cleanest game you have to take the point out of it and my on."
The result means Valour now has 15 points on four wins, 12 losses and three draws and at the very least not lose ground in their outside shot at chasing down York and HFX Wanderers, both clubs tied for the fifth and final playoff spot with 26 points. And while the evidence wasn't instantly obvious -- a nil-nil draw is hardly a concrete result, after all -- there were encouraging signs for Valour in earning the clean sheet in the first game with new goalkeeper Emil Gazdov making his first appearance for the club and Ohin, for the record, making his 100th.
Valour changed its shape for this one, opting to go with a three-man back line in Rocco Romeo, Frankie Facchineri and Kelsey Egwu with five in the midfield. It worked defensively as Valour secured just its second clean sheet of the season while limiting York to just two shots on target and an expected goal total of just .39.
"The glass is half full or half empty. I don't know," said Dos Santos. "The clean sheet was important. We haven't had many. Even last game playing against a very good team we kept Ottawa far from our goal (in a 2-1 loss). We know we're going to concede a bit of territory, but we built on that today and it was important with Emil coming in and playing his first game in almost a year to protect him well and give him a chance.
"That's the positive. Now, how can we build on this. I feel we weren't very cohesive on the ball. When we had the chance to get out clean and maybe threaten them a little bit by breaking that first pressure they were putting on our execution wasn't very strong. We need to find consistency. I told the guys when you're not at your best, when you're not having a very clean game on the ball you have to find ways to dig in and get something out of the game and that's the positive side of it."
Ohin, meanwhile, is an original member of Valour dating back to the team's inception in 2019. He's been there since Day 1, twice battling through serious knee injuries but always proudly wearing the team's colours and representing the club in the community.
"It's special as the last man standing (from the original roster)," he said. "I take it as a blessing. Having my 100th game with Valour... that means a lot to me. Every time I have the opportunity I always talk about what Valour means. This is a city that gave me something; gave me the opportunity to dream again. So, whenever I put on the jersey and cross the line I go out there, I just want to give it my all. I just want to leave everything out there and walk back into the locker room with no regrets, knowing that I gave everything, and that's what I've tried my best to do every single day from my first game -- I remember my debut here in this stadium -- all the way to my 100th game today."
Valour FC 0 Vork United FC 0
Goals
Valour FC
None
York United FC
None
Card summary
Valour FC
53:07’: Bruno Figueiredo (yellow, argument)
55:15': Kesley Egwu (yellow, tactical four)
57:20': Safwane Mlah (yellow, time wasting)
67:43': Raphael Ohin (yellow, tactical foul)
York United FC70:41′: Frank Sturing (yellow, reckless offence)
**VALOUR STARTING XI (3-5-2)**GK – Emil Gazdov
D – Rocco Romeo
D – Frankie Facchineri
D – Kelsey Egwu
MF - Themi Antonoglou
MF – Raphael Ohin ©
MF – Safwane Mlah
MF – Bruno Figueiredo
MF -- Kris Twardek
FW -- Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy
FW -- Myles Morgan
Valour substitutions
61:14’: On Roberto Alarcon; off Safwane Mlah
61:18': On Diogo Ressurreicao; off Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy
61:22': On Jordan Faria; off Bruno Figueiredo
80:58': On Erik Pop; off Myles Morgan