Wanted: lucky rabbit foot, genie bottles, four-leaf clovers and/or recipes for magic potion for goals.
If available and willing to pass along, please contact Valour FC, Canadian Premier League.
Winnipeg's professional soccer side played to a nil-nil draw against Pacific FC Sunday night in a wildfire smoke-delayed contest in front of an impressive crowd of 5,728 at Princess Auto Stadium.
And the fans were treated to a dandy, despite the scoreline.
Dominating possession and cranking out 12 shots -- including five on target -- Valour served up an impressive performance that was lacking in only one area: a clinical finish around the opponent's net.
As a result, the club's record now sits at one win, five losses and two draws and yet just five points in arrears of the final playoff spot, currently held by York United FC, and with a match in hand.
"All we were missing today was the goal," said Valour FC GM and head coach Phillip Dos Santos post-match. "But that's football. It's such fine margins.
"We look at that last action, without (Pacific) threatening us too much, the outcome could have been different. It's just one of those games where we need t build on the positives. I challenged the team into making sure we would do a better job in protecting our goal and not allowing the opposition to have clean and clear chances. We dealt with them fairly well apart from that last play on a set play.
"If there was a team to win this match today, it should have been us."
Indeed, for all their dominance, it took a diving save by Valour goalkeeper Eleias Himaras to preserve even the draw, as he robbed Aly Ndom of some extra-time heroics as he headed a Marco Bustos' free kick toward a corner of the goal only to be stopped.
"To me it's just a normal save," said Himaras, completely under-selling the effort. "Defensively we had to be ready for that last few minutes. It was tough. They had some pressure on us. But we saw it out, we saw the game through and spoke a lot about a clean sheet, no goals conceded, and that's what we ended up with.
"(Hearing the final whistle immediately after the save) was satisfying knowing the game's done, clean sheet, because that was on our mind a lot."
Valour now has just six goals in eight matches and has been blanked in half of their contests. Yet, their performance Sunday -- even their first half in last week's 4-nil loss to Cavalry FC in which they again dominated possession and chances -- plus their 2-1 win over York and a 2-2 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps in their Canadian Championship match has Dos Santos & Co. encouraged that the goals will come.
"I look at the game against York, our game against the Whitecaps here. I look at the first 45 minutes against Cavalry... we're a good side and the guys need to understand that," said Dos Santos. "It's about dealing with the moments and making sure we limit the mistakes and what we give to the opposition and I really like what I saw when it comes to that.
"We have to build on those positives."
"We felt like we did get a lot of chances, but props to (Pacific goalkeeper) Max Anchor -- he made some big saves for them to keep them in the game," added Himaras.
"But at the end of the day we have to capitalize on what we get in our chances so, in a way, it feels like a loss to us because we had the chances we just couldn't put them away.
"We don't dwell on it. We have a game in 72 hours so a quick turnaround and we hope to find three points midweek."
Valour will be back at in action Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Princess Auto Stadium in the club's first ever school-day match against Vancouver FC.
"Today, we were just missing the goal," repeated Dos Santos. "We just need to keep pushing the guys. We just need to stay positive with them.
"Sometimes we spend too much time looking for the magic formula and the formula is simple: keep working the guys. Stay positive with them. Build on the good things that we saw today and believe that their ability is going to unlock.
"Out of 10 matches like this one today, we'll win eight because that goal will come. It didn't come today but we just need to keep working."
'V' Notes
-Valour was without veteran centre back Rocco Romeo, who missed the match due to injury.
-The start time for the match was pushed from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and then delayed another 20 minutes before getting underway.
"Guys were here at 1:15 and some even went home when they changed the kickoff to five o'clock," said Dos Santos. "We didn't want to keep the guys in here and locked in a locker room or a lounge."
Himaras: "We had heard about (the delay) early on but we didn't let it affect our game whatsoever. We just continued to stay indoors, stay hydrated and just continued to have a positive mentality."
-The all-time series between these two clubs remains lopsided, with Valour having posted four wins and now four draws against 17 defeats.
Valour FC Pacific FC
Goals
Valour FC
None
Pacific FC
None
Card summary
Valour FC
11:26′: Bruno Figueiredo (yellow, reckless offence)
52:42': Jevontae Layne (yellow, tactical foul)
73:07': Raphael Ohin (yellow, tactical foul)
85:37': Kelsey Egwu (yellow, tactical foul)
Pacific FC
22:00': Josh Heard (yellow, reckless offence)
VALOUR STARTING XI
GK – Eleias Himaras
D – Zach Fernandez
D – Frankie Facchineri
D – Kelsey Egwu
D – Themi Antonoglou
MF – Raphael Ohin ©
MF – Xavier Venancio
MF – Bruno Figueiredo
FW – Diogo Ressurreicao
FW – Kris Twardek
F – Jevontae Layne
—
Valour substitutions
56:03’: On Shaan Hundal; off Jevontae Layne
73:30': On Kian Williams; off Xavier Venancio
73:35': On Jordan Faria; off Diogo Ressurreição
83:45': On Safwane Mlah; off Bruno Figueiredo