June 14, 2022...Preview: Short on Numbers But Not Spirit as Nash Vows to 'Throw Everything' at Atletico Ottawa
(from York United FC website)

PREVIEW: SHORT ON NUMBERS BUT NOT SPIRIT AS NASH VOWS TO 'THROW EVERYTHING' AT ATLETICO OTTAWA  

It proved a gripping affair when the sides last met at TD Place in May.

York United FC make a second trip to the capital this season to face Atletico Ottawa tonight 
but this time in a Canadian Premier League fixture.  

Early last month, the Nine Stripes invaded TD Place Stadium and triumphed 8-7 on penalties after 
a 1-1 draw in regulation time during their Canadian Championship preliminary round tie.  

"It’s the same approach. We're gonna go for it and try to win the game,’’ Head Coach Martin Nash 
said in Monday’s pre-match conference.

"Many teams set up to get a draw so we're gonna throw everything we can at them and let the chips 
fall where they may."

Despite two consecutive defeats to Calvary FC at home and on the road against HFX Wanderers, 
Nash and his troops are not despondent. It's all been about trimming the rough edges during 
the group's ten-day break following that last competitive fixture in Nova Scotia. 

And, as revealed by The Gaffer, they are going to throw the kitchen sink at Ottawa later tonight. 

Nash said:

"I think it's a frustrated group, obviously. Two games that we arguably didn’t deserve to lose. 
But it is what it is. We've got to move on and keep working. I think our biggest problem of late 
has been scoring goals so we've worked on that a lot this week: finishing and how we're playing 
in the final third. We're putting all that work in and hopefully we'll see some rewards."

York United will welcome back a trio of players that missed the assignment in Halifax: 
Chrisnovic N’sa, Diyaeddine Abzi and Isaiah Johnston all return following suspension.

But, even still, the Nine Stripes are depleted with the squad ravaged by injuries and the departure 
of teenage striker Lowell Wright, who was named in the Canada squad for the CONCACAF Men's Under-20 
Championship which begins this weekend in Honduras.

Striker Austin Ricci’s season ended after undergoing surgery to correct an ACL injury while 
Brazilian wide player William Wallace has also been ruled out for the remainder of the year 
with the same complaint.

Nash recalled: "William [Wallace] is waiting for surgery. Austin had the surgery. Rog [Roger Thompson] 
is still out. Oli [Minatel] and Mike [Petrasso] are still not back anytime soon. Max [Ferrari] 
is slowly returning. But Lowell  [Wright] is gone,  Daniel [Obbekjaer] is gone now too. So, we get 
three back, we lose three. We're at the same number this past weekend. It's a tough spell and a lot 
of guys are being pushed minutes-wise, are having to go the distance and without much of a reprieve 
too. But at least we had a ten-day break here. It meant some guys got some rest, got refreshed 
and are ready for this next little spell because we have a number of games in a small period of time."

OPPONENT WATCH: 

Atleti are enjoying a purple-patch and can boast a three-game winning streak, including the most 
recent 1-0 success over defending league champions Pacific FC. 

They are without a defeat in their last four league matches. 

Their danger man will be Ollie Bassett who was named the CPL Player of the Month for May. 
The supporting stars will be Malcom Shaw, Ballou Tabla and Maxim Tissot. 

Ridwan Ibrahim Asante

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