MANCHESTER, NH – Both teams had their opportunities. Neither team could finish those chances.
That was until Manchester Central High School’s Muhammad Traore broke through with less than four minutes remaining in the contest.
The Little Green found themselves knotted in a 0-0 tie against cross-city rival Manchester Memorial Tuesday night before Traore was able to slip one past standout goalie Yousif Hikmat to earn the deciding goal in the 1-0 Central victory.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said Central head coach Maid Ahmic. “You know, we were playing Memorial. They’re always tough, and it’s a city rivalry game … When Manchester teams get together, that’s what you get, a tough battle.”
Traore’s winner came after a free kick deep in Memorial territory. There, Amar Kamaric played the ball inside the box that led to an on-target Sean Venator header. Hikmat made the initial save, but Traore was in position to capitalize and did just that when he caught the rebound and snuck the ball between the diving keeper and the left post.
“It was a good play by them,” said Memorial head coach Jerold White. “Our keeper got hands on it, but then the follow through we just couldn’t get there, and that’s the difference right there.”
A couple bounces, one way or the other, have similarly defined Central’s season to date, said Ahmic.
“You know, we have some ups and downs in the game, but I’m happy for our guys,” said Ahmic. “We just stick together and play until the last minute, and we played well (tonight), so even if the game finished 0-0, I would have been happy with the way we’ve been playing. You know, slow and steady, we keep improving game after game.”
The Little Green, now 3-2-3, have a one-week break in game action before they travel to Nashua South for a 4 p.m. contest on Oct. 1; and Ahmic said he expects his team to continue to ascend over the remainder of the regular season and hit its stride come playoffs.
“We’re still not playing our best soccer, so by the end of the season, we’re going to be a much different team than we are right now,” he said. “We’re trending the right way … and this is a good building block toward our final goal, which is hopefully to compete for the state title.”
The other pivotal moment of Tuesday’s game came less than a minute into the contest, when Hikmat saved a penalty kick, which White said boosted his team’s momentum.
“Every game we play, he keeps us in the game,” said White.
Still, wins are tough to come by without goals to accompany the effort on the pitch, he added
“We had a ton of chances today. We just couldn’t put it in the net. You know, we panicked a lot, and that’s one of the things we need to work on, is finishing those opportunities,” said White. “That is the story of our season. Tons of chances, tons of opportunities. We play some beautiful soccer at some points and some ugly soccer at some points.”
Though the Crusaders have yet to earn their first win, all but one of their seven contests have been within two goals. In fact, three of their six losses have come by one goal.
“One-nill is a tough loss, but we’ve had some pretty good showings,” said White. “It’s not the record we want, but the kids are playing some really good matches against some really solid teams, so we’ve just got to continue to build and see where we go from there.”
Memorial looks get in the win column when the team travels to Bedford High School Thursday for a 4 p.m. clash with the undefeated Bulldogs.
“We’ve got to just trust each other and continue to build from the back and then go out there and see what we can do,” said White.
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