Photo: Paul Rudderow

Last week’s winner was a brand new face, Brian Brown. This week, a more familiar name stepped up: Sébastien Le Toux.

Saturday’s game wasn’t the prettiest. The Union looked like the better team for most of the contest, and won relatively comfortably, but it wasn’t slick soccer. One criticism of Sébastien Le Toux, of course, has been that he isn’t a particularly technical player, and that sometimes his constant running, while one of his prime assets, can also be a detriment to the team, as he breaks shape or isn’t in the right spot defensively.

But, sometimes, you need a runner. Sometimes, runners win games.

Such was the case against Montréal. The first goal came about through perhaps the simplest play that exists in soccer: the long goal kick. Zac MacMath, after a failed Montréal attack, took his kick quickly. The ball flew straight down the middle and long. Le Toux, always alert for chances to run down a lost cause, took off — or did he start running before the ball was even kicked? Regardless, the Montréal defense found themselves retreating desperately as Le Toux ran straight up their gut, waiting for MacMath’s lofted service to land.

Under normal circumstances, Le Toux never gets near the ball. The defense heads it away, or muscles him off the ball, or the keeper collects it. That’s why most forwards don’t bother running for balls like that. But this was Montréal, and this was Le Toux, so the defense didn’t clear it, and Le Toux certainly made the run. That he would successfully round Troy Perkins and finish from a tight angle seemed a fait accompli, and so it was.

Le Toux’s second goal was another example of his never-give-up attitude. Andrew Wenger had made a good run to the Montréal box, but misplayed his pass behind Vincent Nogueira. On many days, the play would have died, but there was Le Toux, making a late run. The finish, again, was not the simplest, and was again aided by poor defending, but Le Toux is nothing if not opportunistic, and he put it away after one touch.

It was a game for the scrappers. For Montréal, only Patrice Bernier seemed up for a scrap. For Sébastien Le Toux, a scrap is all he ever looks for. And on a day when style wasn’t working, scrapping did. Le Toux got two and could have had an assist or a pretty third. But come on — that would have taken the tarnish off what was a gloriously gritty win.

Nobody does grit better than Sébastien Le Toux. That’s why he’s PSP’s Player of the Week.