Nanaimo's Harbourside FC will play their first ever playoff game on Friday, July 26, against league champion TSS Rovers. (Harbourside FC)

By Alex Rawnsley

semi final bound

Nanaimo’s Harbourside FC prepare for first playoff game in team history

Jul 26, 2024 | 8:53 AM

NANAIMO — It’s the first taste of playoff soccer for an upstart local franchise.

Harbourside FC’s men’s team will line up against league regular season champion TSS Rovers at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby on Friday, July 26, for their first-ever League1 BC playoff game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed on the league’s YouTube channel.

Head coach Kevin Lindo said results over the July 20/21 weekend, including a 3-0 victory over Rovers, helped secure a top-four finish.

“Everyone’s pretty level-headed, I think we’ve had a quiet confidence about us the last few weeks. We had a game plan on the weekend, executed it and we’re feeling pretty good.”

Harbourside finished in fourth place with a record of five wins, five losses and two draws, good for 17 points in the standings.

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Rovers won the regular season title with a 7-2-3 record (24 points) but were winless against Harbourside, drawing the season’s first matchup 3-3 in mid-June.

Lindo said both games were highly competitive, with Harbourside able to take advantage last weekend.

“We’ve seen a team that’s still looking to play football in a way that’s on the front foot, attacking minded and got threats all over the field. We were really switched on and going for it and maybe they were guilty of taking the foot off the gas, understandably as they’ve had a really good season.”

Billy Bagiopoulos (front right) and Suka Behery (front left) have driven a majority of Harbourside’s offence this season, combining for 17 goals. (Harbourside FC)

Billy Bagiopoulos led the way this season offensively for Harbourside, scoring a league-best 12 goals, including three against Rovers.

He’s combined routinely this season with Suka Behery and Charlie Purcell to form a three-pronged attack for Harbourside which scored 20 of the team’s 25 goals this season.

“They really complement each other nicely,” Lindo said. “Billy has found his finishing over the last few years and he’s the top marksman in the league, no doubt about it. Suka has turned his creativity into goals and assists…and Charlie runs more than anyone on the field but he also has that quality and pace to run in behind too.”

Defensively, Lindo said goalkeeper Callum Weir has been instrumental in not only keeping the ball out of Harbourside’s net, but getting play moving up field.

Captain Fergus Hall was labelled as a “real old school captain” by Lindo, who said his role on the team has been “immense”.

If Harbourside wins their semi-final, they will return to Swangard Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 4 to take on the winner of the other semi between Altitude FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy.

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