May 12, 2022...Reaction: Practice Makes Perfect as Nash Reveals Penalty Homework (from York United FC website)

REACTION: PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT AS NASH REVEALS PENALTY HOMEWORK

Spot-kicks were worked on ahead of Atletico Ottawa shootout success.

Head Coach Martin Nash is delighted his change in tactics yielded dividends in Tuesday's Canadian
Championship preliminary round victory at Atletico Ottawa.

The Gaffer experimented with a back-three cast of Chrisnovic N’sa, Jordan Wilson and Dominick Zator.

He deployed Mateo Hernandez and Diyaeddine Abzi - whose terrific strike into the roof of the net opened
the scoring after 31 minutes - as wing backs.

"We tried a new formation today that we hadn't played yet this year,'' Nash said in his post-match
conference.

"We did it in preseason a couple times so we haven't played it for a month or so. I thought the guys
bought into a well, they applied the tactics well. First half, I thought we were good. We came out,
we created a number of opportunities and I thought Nate [Ingham] made a couple of good saves."

''I think we struggled in the second half a little bit. We got a bit tired. We weren't pressing
so well. They were finding more spaces and creating more opportunities, but we still limited their
chances. In the end they were able to get one back and we ended the game a bit on a low in some ways,
but fought to get the draw."

The Nine Stripes progressed 7-6 in a dramatic penalty shootout after substitute Malcolm Shaw equalised
for the hosts on the hour mark only for a normal-time winner to elude both teams.

In a sudden-death situation, Cedric Toussaint converted the winning spot-kick by sending his former
teammate Ingham - now between the sticks of Atleti - the other way. This was after Ben McKendry
had skied his effort and handed a perfect opportunity to Montreal midfielder to ensure a fairytale
moment in front of his family.

"We practiced a penalty shootout yesterday after training," added Nash.

"I'm sure they did as well knowing that it could be a potential today, just to get the guys some
confidence. It worked well."

Stand-in captain Zator says he and his teammates proved their tactical versatility after that
hard-fought victory.

He also highlighted the contributions of Chrisnovic N’sa and Diyaeddine Abzi

"I thought both of them played very well," Zator offered post-game.

"We switched our formation to get Abzi a little bit more freedom going forward and obviously he was
able to get into certain pockets. A great shot, a great goal so obviously it worked out for us
and I think of Chrisno as such a solid defender. Especially one-on-one, it's difficult to get
past him. For Jordan Wilson and myself, it's nice to have someone like that covering that
whole side. We're always confident in his one-on-one battles. So I think those two played
a great game and that's what helped us get through today's game."

York United will next travel to Winnipeg to take on Valour FC on Sunday.

Ibrahim Ridwan Asante

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