Late rally to beat Winnipeg Lions

THUNDER BAY – Rust never sleeps – at least according to Neil Young.

However, sometimes it can be overcome.

On Saturday night, the Thunder Bay Chill opened their five-game preseason schedule with a friendly at home against familiar rivals the Winnipeg Lions before the USL 2 regular season kicks off.

This time they gave Chill all they could in the first 75 minutes.

In the end, the Chill came out late to win 3-1 in front of around 200 fans at Chapples Field.

Midfielder Karim Bachir Bey opened the contest at 1-1 in the 82nd^n.d minute, Winnipeg goalie Jean Michel deflected a misplayed ball off the feet of Thunder Bay's Ludwig Scherer and into the Lions' net.

Left guard MacDonald Nieba added an insurance score during the injury.

Chill coach Tony Colistro said it was good to see Bachir Bey rewarded for his hard work throughout the match.

“He is a leader. He works hard. He did not stop running for 82 minutes. Usually it doesn't come out then, but it's a friendly, so I keep a close eye on the minutes. But he went non-stop for 82 minutes, so that was great,” Colistro said.

“He deserved to score.”

In 2024, Bachir Bey, from the University of Lethbridge, didn't want to take too much credit for the goal.

“I just go around the pitch and do my job and it was good to get the goal today, but it was a team effort. Everyone was in a commotion,” he said.

It wasn't the prettiest win on record, but it sets a winning tone for the start of a season with high hopes of improving on last year's playoff appearance.

This is an opportunity to eliminate mistakes, Bachir Bey said.

“We want to win every game. This is a new team, a new game, a new environment,” he said. “So it really builds chemistry and I'm really looking forward to the start of the season.”

Colistro accepts it, but is definitely looking for improvements.

“I think we had a couple of chances (missed),” Colistro said. “We hit the post, we had a few more chances. What we were looking for, of course, was to stay in shape. We conceded goals and we tried to avoid them, but at the end of the day it's the first game.

“We have to be a little cleaner with our passes. We even returned the winning balls. It will take some time.''

Chill opened the scoring in the 11th^th minute Italian import Nico Lanari cut the middle and directed the ball to the Winnipeg goal.

Thunder Bay had several chances to take a 1-0 lead early in the second half, but failed to connect.

Striker Diego Reveco had an open shot but left it high and wide. Veteran Sullivan Silva was all alone in the Winnipeg goal, he was unlikely, then fired it off the right post.

This gave the Lions the opening they needed.

Striker Mateus Aquinsky buried the cross of his teammate Ilyich Garakhmadani in 67.^th in the minute, the ball went around Chill's goalkeeper Arman Taver and equalized the score 1-1.

Thunder Bay and Winnipeg will square off again on Sunday afternoon at Chapples Field. Game time is 1:00 p.m