Wolves drop first game
The St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves fell behind early and never quite recovered as they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Blue Devils FC B Saturday in Oakville.
It was the first loss in franchise history for the Wolves who topped Toronto FC4 2-0 in their League1 Ontario Men’s Premier Division debut last week.
“It was very close,” Roma director of operations Carmine Provenzano said. “We were the better team all throughout except there were times when we played down a little bit.”
It was a chippy affair that saw the Blue Devils awarded penalty kicks in the first minute of the game and the last minute of the first half.
Oakville converted on the second kick to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
“Going down a goal at the half brought the guys down a bit,” Provenzano said. “We tried to reel them in at the half and we came out pretty good in the second half.”
Oakville made it 2-0 before Blake McGowan scored for Roma to narrow the gap to 2-1.
“We scored a real nice goal and had a little bit of momentum,” Provenzano said. “There was a whole fiasco with a red card — one of their kids pulled hair — but we got into the frustration mode again and it hurt us. We were up a man but we didn’t convert when we should have.”
Provenzano feels two games into their season the Wolves have already shown they won’t be a pushover.
“We’re showing very well, to be honest. I think teams maybe though they could stomp over a new licensee and it’s not happening,” he said.
The Wolves will now prepare for their home opener Friday at 8:45 p.m. versus Vaughan Azzurri B at Club Roma.
“You have to have a short memory, you have to move on,” he said. “This week is a new week and let’s get ready for our home game and show everybody what we’re made of.”
Provenzano reports Club Roma field has been licensed for 8,000 fans at 75 per cent capacity.
“I don’t think we’ll get anywhere near that,” he chuckled. “That’s not going to happen — I wish it would — but we’re expecting at least as much as we had for the (exhibition) game at Sir Winston, so maybe 500.”
Roma ramblings: The Wolves were without two injured starters and used players from their U21 team to fill out the roster.
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