Fortress Foothills continues to grow. Foothills FC (4-1-2) extended its unbeaten run at Foothills Composite to five games after playing to a scoreless draw in their first meeting of the PDL season with the Oregon based Lane United on Saturday evening. “I thought we were very good. We’ve kept a clean sheet, we’ve created chances, actually the first 15 or 20 minutes we had three chances on net,” said Foothills FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “I thought we were very good in the second half. The result, we all want to win, but I thought that was a very good performance. “The greatest skill of all is putting the ball in the back of the net and they parked 11 players behind the ball and made it tough.” Foothills wasn’t without chances. Prolific striker Moses Danto had a pair of free-kick opportunities well saved while midfielder Sergio Camargo’s clear-cut shot from the top of the box was turned aside in the 79th minute. Nico Pasquotti’s low header on the final play of the divisional contest would be as close as the hosts would come to taking three points. “Credit to them, they’re well coached and well balanced,” the coach added. “We said at the beginning of the season people will take points off you. We’re not getting carried away with league place or anything like that. It’s a race that we will be in at the end. “We’re not getting carried away we just want to keep picking up points.” Without the ball, there isn’t much more the team can do. Foothills now have three clean sheets at home and have held the opposition to two goals in five games. Netminder Marco Carducci and steely centre back Joel Waterman have been key cogs in the defensive efforts all season. Waterman, a first-year member of the squad from Aldergrove, B.C., put in another sterling effort on Saturday. “He’s been great this season, Joel Waterman has been rock solid,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “That’s our fourth clean sheet. We’re not conceding goals, we’ve only conceded four goals in seven games. “That’s why our goal difference is (good). We’ll take that same attitude on the road.” Foothills was without the services of four key contributors in centre-back Jay Wheeldon, midfielders Nik Ledgerwood, Kyle Jones and forward Ali Musse. All were kept out of the lineup for precautionary reasons and should be available as the team departs for its season long three-game road trip with stops in Seattle, Burnaby and Victoria, from June 13-17. “It’s key. Last year we picked up four points out of a total of nine. 2016 we picked up seven out of nine,” the coach added. “We’ve got to go and pick up some points. If we can get around six points and get two wins out of there, minimum, that puts us in good shape.” Foothills’ next home date is June 23 versus TSS Rovers. For more information go to foothillsfc.ca
