Mitchell Heinzler found a gap in the Lebanon defense twice in the second half, and made the Yellowjackets pay both times in a 2-0 Republic win Monday night. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Republic, which improved to 2-3.
Coach David Ashby says he likes the progress he’s seeing from his team five matches into the season. Part of that progress is figuring out how best to use the talent up front.
“I think we’re so good at offensively pressuring teams, they’re forced to just sit back there and camp out. It makes it hard for guys like Mitchell and Julio (Quezada), who have the ability to take on one or two players; but when there’s three or four players in front of them, it makes it really hard,” Ashby says. “I’ve been trying to really harp on the guys to remain relaxed; kind of pull back a little bit and let the team come at you, and then we try to work our system again. I think they’ve done pretty well with that so far.”
After failing to score in the first half, Ashby says the Tigers did a better job in the second half of staying in position when they went on the attack.
“They were in the right shape and the right position. In the first half, our outside mids would pinch in, and we had a bad shape. It allows their team to stay really compact,” Ashby says. “Those last two goals, we were staying out wide and it creates more space for someone like Mitchell, who can take them on. As soon as he gets that opportunity, he broke through and put both away.”
Republic travels to Branson Tuesday for a COC match against the Pirates.