Photos by John & Hazel May
Captions by Graham Tooke, @chelskitooke
GOAL 2′ Emphatic start as the ‘Caps took the early lead. 100 percent possession lead to Rivero crossing to an unmarked Morales to dink over Dykstra.
9’ Sam Adekugbe was a lucky boy to only see yellow after a reckless lunge early on.
GOAL 10′ Bobby Boswell equalizes. He got highest to head past David Ousted from Michael Farfan’s centre.
RED 42′ Matias Laba’s night ended in the first half. A desperate foul on Espindola made it easy for Dave Gantar to show him his second yellow card. Laba had been charging around like a bull in a china shop for much of the first half.
45′ Just before half time Pedro Morales tried a ridiculous attempt from halfway that almost caught Dykstra out. Pedro hoping to be the Chilean Charlie Adam.
54′ Ousted came up with a pair of massive saves just as Vancouver were beginning to turn the screw, DC almost capitalized on Teibert’s slip. Espindola laid a shot across goal, but Ousted superbly pushed it round the post. From the corner Chris Rolfe had a go from the edge of the box that Ousted flung himself at to keep the match level.
55′ The game began to surge end to end. Octavio Rivero turned inside and curled an effort off the post and Morales’ follow up was blocked by a wall of DC bodies.
58’ Second choice goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra went down injured. DC was forced into bringing on their third choice keeper Travis Worra.
GOAL 64′ DC United got the winner through Rolfe. He played a one-two with himself before powering a fine shot past Ousted.
74′ Worra almost gave Ben Olsen a heart attack when the youngster claimed a pass back from his own defender. The indirect free kick resulted in a corner but Waston couldn’t find a way through the mess of players in front of goal.
90+ The final stages were peppered with opportunities as Ousted made his way into the oppositions area for a pair of corners. Despite the pressure there was no way through and DC walked away with a hard fought three points.
It was an evening to forget for Pa-Modou Kah, his performance littered with cheap giveaways.
