Surrey United Firefighters' six-game Vancouver Metro Soccer League premier division unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end with a 2-0 loss to West Van Jan. 17 on the North Shore.
The opening half was evenly played with both teams generating scoring chances, but no goals. Surrey's best chance came when Liam Miller unleashed a wicked shot from just outside the penalty area, only to have West Van goalkeeper Garth Lagasse pull off a sensational save.
The Firefighters next chance came in the 50th minute when Tom Lowndes crossed an impeccable ball into the West Van goal area, only to have Reece Miles miss what appeared to be an easy tap-in.
The former Trollers took advantage of the situation and opened the scoring a few minutes later when Cathal O'Connor blasted a rocket of a shot from outside the penalty area that found the back of the net, giving veteran goalkeeper Paul Shepherd no chance whatsoever.
In their usual fashion, the Firefighters fought back tenaciously and came close to knotting the score at the 65-minute mark when Sean Einarsson almost converted Steve Kindel's free-kick with a great header. Unfortunately for the Firemen, Einarsson's header was brilliantly saved by Garth Lagasse.
A few minutes later, West Van FC was able to score what proved to be the insurance marker when Desmond Tachie raced in on goal and calmly beat Paul Shepherd with a near-post shot.
Elsewhere, Newton's CCB-RT United posted their second win of 2014 with a 3-1 decision over Norvan on the North Shore Saturday.
Norvan controlled the play in the early going and were rewarded with the first goal of the game in the 20th minute.
Norvan FC continued to press and came close to scoring on a couple of other occasions, but young goalkeeper Pratap Sandhu kept CCB-RT in the game with two outstanding saves.
The second half told a totally different story as the visitors took over the reins of the match and dominated the final 45 minutes. United knotted the score at the 70-minute mark when Milad Rahmati beat a couple of Norvan defenders before crossing the ball into the box, where Nick Soolsma calmly converted the pass with a low, hard shot.
Five minutes later, United took the lead when Rahmati took advantage of a defensive error by scoring on a breakaway.
Late in the game, the Newton lads added a late insurance goal by Shabhaz Khattra to close out the scoring.