By Jake Courtepatte

When Morey Doner released a rocket from the top of the box just seven minutes into York9 FC's match with Winnipeg's Valour FC on Canada Day, manager Jim Brennan breathed a sigh of relief.

His Canadian Premier League squad had failed to find the back of the net for a total of 320 minutes: though this day would see that streak broken with confidence, ending in a 3 – 1 win to close out the spring half of the league's inaugural season.

“We finish the first part of the season off with a win, got a hell of a lot of draws, so we want to turn them into wins,” Brennan said. “The guys say it themselves: we want to compete, we want to win and we want to be in that final.”

It was captain Manny Aparicio that posted the game-winning goal in the 57th minute, sending a long free kick past the Valour keeper, saying postgame how much he appreciated his side's “grit and passion.”

Simon Adjei posted the game's final tally in stoppage time to secure the York side's first victory since June 15.

“I had a feeling today would be the day we would get our goals,” Brennan said after the match. “It wasn't an easy game, but the group dug in and showed their character and deserved that win. Every single one of the players put in a good shift and worked hard for one another, so it was good to see.”

It was a similar mindset for Brennan that he has held all year, despite his squad's shortcomings. He admitted before the match that he often feels sorry for his players at the end of games, knowing “that they deserve so much more because of the work they put in.”

“We want to be in that final. We want to be champions.”

Defender Ryan Telfer shared in his manager's confidence.

“This is really important for some guys,” Telfer said. “It's that confidence, you know, being able to hit the back of the net. We've had goal scoring droughts, and Jimmy spoke to us and said it's one of those times where you can't hit the net for whatever reason, then all of a sudden one game comes and everything that we hit goes in. Today was one of those days.

“It was perfect timing. Now we're looking forward to the fall season, looking at how the whole thing started for us. But the most important thing was we wanted to start playing our own brand of football. And we just want to get to that point where we keep improving every single game.

“Ultimately, we want to be playing a championship game come the end of the season, so that's really the goal.”

The three-point effort allowed York9 to maintain a two point lead on Valour to stay out of the basement of the spring schedule standings, finishing the first half of the season with a record of 2-3-5.

The fall schedule opens on Saturday with a visit to the Halifax Wanderers, before returning home to York Lions Stadium for a two-game home stand starting on July 14, in hosting FC Edmonton.