Pavel Bobe’s bite proved at least as bad as his bark when the Portland Bulldogs dropped in on Westbrook, Thursday evening, Sept. 24. Bobe dug up the game’s lone goal – a ball that deflected off a Blazes defender – from a scramble out front of keeper Jacob Brackett.

“It was the classic Westbrook-Portland,” said Blazes head coach Greg Cavanaugh. “You’re almost battling a mirror image of yourself. They just do everything that little bit better…They just wanted it a little bit more.”

No. 7 Westbrook slipped to 3-3-1 on the 1-0 home loss. Third-ranked Portland, meanwhile, jumped to 5-0-2 with the W.

Both teams generated a handful of solid chances – the Blazes turned the first, in fact: a poster off the top-right corner of the Bulldogs’ cage. But it was only Bobe who managed to bury a shot through 80 minutes. His goal came with 23:02 remaining in the opening half.

Westbrook gave up a similar goal in a 1-0 loss to Cheverus back on Sept. 15. “We’re letting guys get in on the baseline, and we’re not closing out – we’re not using the end line as the third defender,” said Cavanaugh. “At this time of year, solvable problems. We’re going to be OK.”

Westbrook surged admirably in the waning minutes of the second. Ryan Shackley, for instance, pushed through heavy coverage, in close to Portland’s net, but couldn’t slog quite hard or fast enough to elude their charging keeper.

“I’m proud of the fight there, at the end,” said Cavanaugh. “We went to a 4-3-3…We had opportunities, we had a couple. It’s still September; you’ve got to hope that we can get right, working on our finishing, our poise. Those wind up in the back of the net, hopefully, come October.”

Westbrook hosts Deering (12th at 3-3-0) on Saturday and Gorham (fifth at 5-0-1) on Tuesday before traveling to South Portland (ninth at 3-2-1) on Thursday. Portland hosts South Portland on Tuesday and visits Scarborough (sixth at 5-0-1) on Thursday.

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Westbrooker Varney Kai escapes the claws of Bulldog Pedro Fonseca.Blazes Jean-Marc Lohomboli (9) and Ahmed Hadi pincer Portland’s Josh Irving.Adam Blackmore boots the ball ahead for Westbrook versus visiting Portland on Thursday night.Westbrook’s Noah Oliver tumbles turf-ward after a Portland defender jumps into steal.Westbrook’s Ahmed Hadi goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Portlander Tim Baker.The Blazes Noor Abdulabas and Portland’s Oliver Brochu eyeball an incoming header.Westbrooker Jonathan Lapika cuts back toward the action in front of the Portland cage on Thursday night. Copy the Story Link