Whitecaps’ Robinson ‘irked’ by bad goals against despite win over Orlando
Carl Robinson’s face was a dark cloud after Saturday’s game, despite his Vancouver Whitecaps scoring the most goals in a regular-season match in team history.
He was being haunted by a familiar ghost — bad goals against.
“There were two periods that really irked me. The first one was they go down to 10 men, and we concede a goal. We got a little bit lazy in our decision-making. Our movement wasn’t good enough, our passing wasn’t sharp enough … and we make a game that was comfortable, interesting,” said Robinson after a 5-2 win over Orlando City.
“The second one was, we’re 5-1 up, and we mess about in the box. You don’t do that. You respect the game, you respect football. That’s why I have a face like thunder.”
The Caps limited the Lions to three chances where a goal would be expected — Big Chances, per Opta — and they scored on two. Goaltender Brian Rowe saved the other, a 20th-minute strike from winger Will Johnson, parrying the blast from 15 yards over the bar.
Vancouver outshot Orlando 19-13 — 9-6 on target — and won the duel battle 51-47.
It was a mixed bag of emotions for centreback Jose Aja, who was playing his former team for the first time, and wasn’t too pumped to see old teammates Sacha Kljestan and Dom Dwyer score in the 64th and 94th minute, respectively.
“It was a special game,” he said. “I have friends there, and I was happy to see them, but I was really happy to get the three points here.
But I’m really mad about (the goals). In the last minute, we can’t concede that stupid goal. We must stay focused for 90 minutes. We were 5-1 (ahead), we should just keep the ball easy, but we conceded that goal. We need to learn from that mistake.”