York United and Valour FC were unable to solve one another in the second half of their contest on Friday night, as the two sides settled for a 1-1 draw at York Lions Stadium to begin matchweek 23 in the Canadian Premier League.
There weren’t many surprises in either team’s lineup; Valour got centre-back Gianfranco Facchineri back from suspension, which allowed them to play Dante Campbell up in midfield. York, meanwhile, remained without a few key players like Noah Abatneh and Brian Wright which forced Benjamín Mora into a somewhat makeshift lineup, but he showed faith in 16-year-old Shola Jimoh by handing him his first professional start.
The home side were the first to break through, which they did shortly before the 20-minute mark in the first half. York worked the ball across the top of the penalty area and Juan Córdova looped around Max Ferrari, collecting the ball and threading it across the six-yard box toward Jimoh. The youngster made no mistake with the one-time finish and scored his second goal of the year to put York ahead.
Following the opener, a confident York team continued to push forward with a few more good chances, including one where Jorge Guzmán was one-on-one with the goalkeeper but saw his attempt parried by Jonathan Viscosi.
However, right before halftime Valour struck back. On a quick break, Diogo Ressureição played it into the path of Jordan Faria as he entered the box, and Faria sent the ball across the box to a late-arriving Shaan Hundal, who scored in a second consecutive match and levelled the score.
Coming out of the break, Valour boss Phil Dos Santos made a change to his attack, bringing Jordi Swibel into the game in place of Abdul Binate to introduce a different tactical look alongside Hundal.
The Nine Stripes still had the better of the opportunities in the early second half though, with a few speculative balls through the box that couldn’t quite find a target to finish them. Still, York continued controlling the ball and patiently looking for avenues toward goal.
Despite a handful of promising ventures into the opposing end for both sides, however, both defences remained unbroken in the second half.
So, Valour left with a 1-1 draw for the second match in a row, as the two teams split the points. With one each, Valour moved up to 23 points — three back of Vancouver FC for the final playoff spot — while York are now at 36, ensuring they’ll finish the weekend no higher than third in the table.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
York United: Vincensini; Ferrari, León, Higgins, Botello; Córdova (Esprit 90+1′), Adekugbe, Márquez; Guzmán, Babouli, Jimoh (Martínez 77′)
Valour FC: Viscosi; Alarcón (Mlah 66′), Mourdoukoutas, Facchineri, Antonoglou; Faria (Kwemi 89′), Campbell, Ohin (Sánchez 89′), Ressurreição; Hundal, Binate (Swibel 46′)
Goals
19′ — Shola Jimoh (York United)
44′ — Shaan Hundal (Valour FC)
Discipline
31′ — Yellow: Abdul Binate (Valour FC)
38′ — Yellow: Orlando Botello (York United)
51′ — Yellow: Max Ferrari (York United)
79′ — Yellow: Raphael Ohin (Valour FC)
87′ — Yellow: Jorge Guzmán (York United)
87′ — Yellow: Oswaldo León (York United)
