June 18, 2022...Controversial Refereeing Decisions, A Razor-Sharp Defence and Plenty of Grit: Nine Stripes Are in Battle Mode
(from York United FC website)

CONTROVERSIAL REFEREEING DECISIONS, A RAZOR-SHARP DEFENCE AND PLENTY OF GRIT: NINE STRIPES ARE 
IN BATTLE MODE 

A heavily-depleted squad means Martin Nash is pushing his players to the brink.

On Tuesday night, The Nine Stripes put up a brave fight to grind out a 0-0 draw and apply the brakes 
on a high-flying Atletico Ottawa at TD Place. 

But Head Coach Martin Nash is worried about his side’s lack of firepower to kill off opponents.

The grande provincial derby was quite tempestuous at the embers as both teams finished with ten men 
- Atleti’s Drew Beckie collected a second yellow to exit the game in the 82nd minute while 
Cedric Toussaint was brandished a straight red card in injury time.  

York United defender Jordan Wilson questioned the decisions.

The centre-back said: "I hope I don't get in trouble for saying this but I feel like soft yellows 
are being given across the board by referees so when something bigger happens in a game then refs 
have to go bigger than that and that's a red. But what we have to keep in mind is that four yellows 
make you miss a game and then giving a red in the game you're missing two. 

"I think the ref did alright tonight to be honest, but I just feel like cards were being handed 
out like candy. You can even quote me on that. It's just killing the game a little bit. Both 
of those - Beckie’s and Cedric’s - are not red cards in my opinion. Maybe I'm the boy who's crying 
wolf right now but it really changes the dynamic of the game."

By a mile, York United dominated the statistics but what contributed to the barren scoreline 
was Atleti goalkeeper Nathan Ingham, a former Nine Stripe. He produced some quality saves 
[four in total] and one of them got picked as Moment of the Match by TV broadcaster One Soccer. 

"I haven’t had the chance to really look at the stats but they [Atletico Ottawa] didn’t create 
a ton," Nash said in his post-match conference.

"They got into some good areas, they were still dangerous but I think we limited their chances they 
had one shot on target, I think, and it was from a bit of distance too. We were able to snuff them 
out a bit so I'm proud of the guys. I thought it was a good game, a good contest. I thought we got 
into some great areas as well but we lacked that final bit of quality, which has been missing for us. 
We've got to find a way of scoring some goals."

The Nine Stripes had four shots [out of 13] on target compared to Atleti’s solitary one and dominated 
ball possession with 54%. For the umpteenth time, York United were astute defensively as they won 75% 
[vs 37% by Atleti] of tackles and produced ten interceptions. 

Nash’s side also topped Carlos Gonzalez’s team in the duels columns - both in the air and on the ground. 
The Gaffer thought they did more than enough to have won their first away match of the season. 

"I think it would have been massive if we got that goal towards the end to really galvanize the group 
but we've got some senior players that just drive players on and they've been fantastic for me all year. 
We've got a lot of youngsters in this group - and we're way over the league-mandated 2,500 
Under-21 minutes. We're miles ahead on that aspect. So we're young side and these senior players 
really have to step up and they have stepped up and that's why we've been so good defensively. 
We're young upfront, but we have to make them better and teach them and get them scoring goals 
and if we do that I think will come away with a lot of wins."

York United return to York Lions Stadium on Saturday to face reigning champions Pacific FC. 

Ibrahim Ridwan Asante

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