It was quite the change in two weeks for the Peacock Tornadoes boys soccer team.

They still came out on the losing end, falling 5-1 to the Vanier Vikings on Monday at Smith Field, but played a much stronger game than their season opener two weeks ago, when they lost 8-0 to Vanier.

“They had a lot better effort and we had a lot more scoring chances,” said Shawn Kobylansky, head coach of the Tornadoes.  “The second half, we broke down a little, but that’s the way it works.”

Peacock went into that opening game with only one day of practice under their belt, but getting a couple weeks to work on their game plan definitely helped as they played more as unit on the field.

“It’s nice to see that the boys are starting to gel a bit better,” said Kobylansky.  “One more practice and one more game this week and maybe we’ll get a ‘W’.”

The game was tight in the first half with Vanier holding a slim 1-0 lead after one on a goal from Burke MacDonald.

Kyle Bracken scored in the second half for Peacock, but Vanier was able to pour it on late with four second half goals, including two from Dorion Zambuchini.  Daniel Degirolamo and Michael Blazieko had the other markers for the Vikings.

“We had to move a few players around because we were missing a few key ones and I was quite happy with the way people filled into the places that we put them,” said Jaysen Tomashewski, Vanier head coach.  “It took us a little while to get settled into positions and get comfortable again.”

The game was mired by some rough play late as MacDonald for Vanier and Bracken for Peacock were sent off following an altercation that included punches being thrown on both sides.  Both players will miss their team’s next game.

Tomashewski, who also serves as league commissioner, said that situation isn’t something they want to see happen again.

“We’re going to have a team meeting tomorrow, we’ll have a meeting with the individual players, so we’ll be making sure that doesn’t happen again,” said Tomashewski.  “Hopefully everything gets sorted out… That’s just not soccer.”

While not happy with the situation, Tomashewski did like how hard his team played in the game and that they were battling for balls throughout the contest.

“Traditional Moose Jaw soccer in general, we’ve been a little bit too laid back, so we’ve been really pushing to go fast and get to the ball, never leave a loose ball,” he said.  “It’s great to see that kind of aggression on the ball.”

Vanier is sitting at 2-0-1 on the year after the win, while Peacock drops to 0-2-0.  The Tornadoes will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on the Central Cyclones.