‘None Shall Pass’ Has Been the Theme For CFC Defense

Chattanooga-(WDEF) The Chattahooligans love to shout–None Shall Pass–with Gregor Hartley in net for the CFC.
But they could really shout that about Chattanooga’s entire defense this season.
In their ten regular season league games, the CFC only allowed a total of three goals.
CFC coach Bill Elliott knows his team can dominate on defense without resorting to an old soccer tradition.
Said Elliott-“The phrase in soccer is ‘Park the Bus’. When a team knows they’re somewhat out-matched, they will sit in very deep defensively and take very few chances going forward.”
The CFC may not park the bus, but they do get in the zone.
Said Elliott-“It’s kind of the equivalent of playing a zone defense in basketball or something. Everybody had got a job to do. They’ve got to work hard within that. Just takes one person letting off, and then everything breaks down.”
Said midfielder Matthew Aldred-“You always try to close down the crosses from wide because they’re very dangerous you know getting behind our defense. When the ball is between Greg and our center backs, that’s a dangerous ball for the opposition to play, so we try to limit that.”
The CFC also try to limit the action on their side of the field.
Said Hartley-“We take the ball from the other teams in the center of the field. We try to keep them as far away from our area as possible.”
But if the opposition does get a shot off, good luck beating keeper Gregor Hartley.
Said Aldred-“We have Greg, who is an exceptional goal-keeper. We always say if he was about my height, he would be playing in the English Premiere League.”
Said Elliott-“You need your keeper to come up with one or two big saves if not every game, then every couple of games. That’s where Greg is just magical. He always comes up with that moment when you need it.”
Said Hartley-“Well I have not been called into action that much this season, which is good. That means the players in front of me are doing a fantastic job. All the clean sheets I have and the shut-outs I have, I give the credit to them.”
Ironically, Chattanooga’s offense plays a big part in getting those clean sheets.
Said Elliott-“It doesn’t hurt for sure that we score a lot of goals, and that we possess the ball a lot. That also keeps the opponents. They can’t get those shots and score those goals if they don’t have the ball.”
The CFC return to playoff action on Saturday night at 7:30 as they host Miami United at Finley Stadium.