MIDLAND Sooner or later, all good things must come to an end.
Sockers FC would have preferred that latter but Denton FC provided the former.
Traveling to the Permian Basin for the first time in the team’s inaugural season, Denton FC ran away to a 4-0 victory against the Sockers in National Premier Soccer League play Thursday at Grande Communications Stadium.
It was the first defeat in Lone Star Conference play this season for the Sockers, who saw a seven-game winning streak snapped at the final whistle.
The victory moved Denton FC (6-2-0) ahead of the Sockers (5-2-1 overall, 5-1-1 in league) in the league standings.
Sockers FC head coach Johnny Clifford knows his players have no time to hang their heads with plenty of games remaining to play.
“We’re not too high or too low,” Clifford said. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t play you’re way but sometimes you have to expect that. We’ll be back and get back to action.”
While the Diablos ended the Sockers’ undefeated streak, Denton FC has gone on a winning streak of its own, beating Dallas City FC (2-1) before crushing Tyler FC (6-0) prior to their 4-0 win over Sockers FC.
“I’m proud of the guys. It’s our inaugural season,” Denton FC head coach Chad Rakestraw said. “We’ve established ourselves in a culture and established the expectations about what we’re all about and how we’re going to play.
“Being here at their place and getting the win here is big. It’s great to get three points out of Midland. It’s always a big deal. When it comes to the standings, it’s about continuing business for us. Going into Saturday, this win was huge. We know that we were fortunate on the first goal but it took us a while in the first half to get going. But in the second half, things were going great for us.”
It has taken some time for Denton FC to get going.
“It’s been slow,” Rakestraw said. “We have a few personalities but we’re coming along. That’s played out well for us. We have players that care about the team and care about each other.”
This week’s loss was also the first time since May 24 that Sockers FC allowed a goal in a game, ending a four-game streak of clean sheets.
But Clifford didn’t put any blame on his defenders Thursday night.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that I’d blame the back line,” Clifford said. “I think it was a bunch of defensive errors from a lot of our key players that were uncharacteristic that cost us.
“Genuinely, I think it was a bad day at the office. We’re not going to get too high when we win and we’re not going to get too low when we lose.”
The Sockers get right back to work as they host the Fort Worth Vaqueros FC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Grande Communications Stadium.
The Diablos will continue on the road with a 7 p.m. game Saturday in Laredo.
“We’ll celebrate the win against Sockers FC but we have a big game against Laredo and if we can get three points against them, that’d be great,” Rakestraw said. “We have to take care of business and take a top two spot in the standings.”
