MONTREAL – FC Montreal lost 3-1 in its last game of the 2016 USL season against the Harrisburg City Islanders, this Saturday afternoon at the Claude-Robillard Sports Complex.
Defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère scored the only goal for Montreal, while Cameron Vickers and Craig Foster tallied for the visitors. Aron Mkungilwa scored an own goal for the third Harrisburg goal.
FC Montreal created a few good chances in the first half-hour. In the 20th minute, Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla passed in the centre of the box for Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who let the ball go for Mastanabal Kacher just behind him. Kacher took a low shot to the opposing side of the net, but missed by a few inches.
Just before halftime, on a counterattack, Jose Barril passed to Cameron Vickers in the centre of the box. His shot found the top left corner of the net to give the lead to the City Islanders.
Harrisburg took advantage of a counterattack a second time in the 75th minute. With his speed, Foster went by the Montreal defence before beating Maxime Crépeau when entering the box.
In the 83rd minute, Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla beat the opposing defender before crossing to the second post for Meilleur-Giguère, who headed in his second goal of the season.
At the end of the game, Jose Barril got the best of the defenders on the left flank with his speed before cutting inside and passing in front of the net. An FC Montreal player tried to clear the ball, but pushed it into his net.
“I would have liked to see the progress of our last few games in this one,” said head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “We lacked attacking quality, which could have helped us winning the game since we created some good chances.”
“We had a chance to get in front of Toronto and Pittsburgh, so we wanted to get the three points at all costs,” said defender Aron Mkungilwa. “Unfortunately, the result was different from the one we wanted. The team was solid defensively, but we cheated in the last third. There was not enough movement and pace.”
FC Montreal ends its second USL season with a 7-21-2 record, with a 5-3-1 record in its last 9 games.
LINEUPS
FC Montreal: Maxime Crépeau; Aron Mkungilwa, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, Kyle Fisher, Janouk Charbonneau (Yacine Ait Slimane 82’); Louis Béland-Goyette, Mastanabal Kacher (Heikel Jarras 78’), David Choinière* (Philippe Lincourt-Joseph 82’), Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, Alessandro Riggi (Jimmy-Shammar Sanon 59’); Anthony Jackson-Hamel
Subs not used: David Paulmin, Mele Temguia, Simon Lemire
MLS players
Harrisburg City Islanders: Nick Noble; James Thomas, Liam Doyle, William Warshaw, Shawn McLaws; Cameron Vickers, Mouhamed Dabo, Josh Hughes, Matthew Bolduc (Daniel DiPrima 83’), Jose Barril; Paul Wilson (Craig Foster 73’)
Subs not used: Keasel Broome, Shane Campbell, Christopher Hill, Youssef Naciri, Brett Jankouskas
GOALS
HAR: Cameron Vickers 45’
HAR: Craig Foster 75’
MTL: Thomas Meilleur-Giguère 83’
HAR: Aron Mkungilwa (OG) 88’
CAUTIONS
HAR: William Warshaw 69’
MTL: Aron Mkungilwa 87’
