Two games in and York9 FC remain unbeaten. A pair of draws – against Atletico Ottawa and Pacific FC – have the players chomping at the bit for their first victory at The Island Games. The concession of a late, late equaliser in the latter fixture was an irritation, though boss Jimmy Brennan is enthused by what he’s seen so far.

“We haven’t had that pre-season to really get our shape right and get the players accustomed to one another,” he says.

“You can see in games, at times, that we’re still trying to find that balance across the park. That takes a little bit of time. Obviously we’re frustrated that we conceded in the 92nd minute on Tuesday night and we should’ve picked up three points there. But, the good part is we haven’t lost a match. We’re picking up points and we can see improvements”.

It was recent acquisition Alvaro Rivero who opened the scoring earlier in the week, brilliantly latching on to a flick-on from Ryan Telfer and smashing a superb strike to the net. The Spaniard came off the bench early in the second half and made a huge contribution, just like teenage sensation Lowell Wright did in the 2-2 battle with Atletico last weekend.

Brennan has made it clear that the entire squad will be called upon at this tournament due to the condensed nature of it. But, players are being handed plenty of minutes – not just cameos late on.

“In both games we’ve changed in the 54th minute just to get fresh legs on,” he says.

“We could see the opposition fatigue a little and it’s just about picking the right moments. We brought the young boys on against Atleti – which shows the belief we have – and they came in and did the job. Next game we brought in Alvaro and he scores. We told everyone from the beginning: ‘This will be one of the toughest things you’ll ever do in pro football and everyone’s going to be playing a role here so you have to be ready’.

“Playing on Saturday and Tuesday was tricky. But the main thing now is maintaining the players, especially the guys that have played two games. It’s looking after them, monitoring them, checking their loads, getting them in physio, getting massages, getting their recovery. We’re using the pool a lot and just flushing out the legs and getting the nutrients back in the body. I think you’re gonna start to see it affecting teams over the next couple of weeks. Once we get into four or five games, I think you’ll start to see a lot of fatigue. But I think we’ve done a good job. The boys feel good and they’re looking forward to this match with Valour. We’ve got a good squad, fit players, some youth that are hungry. It’s a good balance”.

York9 FC began the tournament with key figures carrying knocks and playing catch-up with their fitness. Now, bit by bit, Brennan is beginning to get them back. Two points from two games and with a number of crucial players on their way to a first team return? Not a bad situation.

“It’s getting those guys up to match level,” Brennan says.

“Going into this tournament missing [Chris] Mannella, [Michael] Petrasso, Manu [Aparicio] for the first game, Wataru [Murofushi] with his Achilles…now they’re starting to come back. Michael gave us 30 minutes off the bench against Pacific, Chris isn’t far off. It would be nice to have everyone healthy and just get our squad going”.

On Tuesday, the side conceded from a last-gasp set-piece: Pacific FC’s Lukas MacNaughton causing problems at the near post and goalkeeper Nathan Ingham unable to block.

Ingham, shortlisted for the CPL’s Golden Gloves award last season, had made an array of excellent saves throughout the game and Brennan says it’s a testament to his character that there were no excuses offered afterwards.

Instead, it was a case of back to work.

The message is clear from players and management: a lot done but plenty more to achieve.

“Nate is a strong character and if he makes a mistake he’s the first one to hold up his hand. He’s also the keeper you can rely on to make those big saves at times,” Brennan outlines.

“It was unfortunate. We sat down and went over video. It just glanced off MacNaughton a little bit and changed the direction as Nate was coming to punch. And as it changed direction it hit the outside of his glove and it threw him off a little bit. But he’s a big boy and he learns from his mistakes. He said he could’ve done a couple of things better and the next day he’s back on that training pitch working”.