The Fort Lauderdale Strikers pulled off a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Lockhart Stadium on Saturday night. Both teams will not have to wait long to see each other again in The Florida Derby as they play next Saturday at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg.
The Strikers had the wind to their back in the first half as they shot toward the west end of the stadium. They scored on their second shot of the game during the 22nd minute. Midfielder Carlos Salazar crossed the ball from the right side and forward Martin Nunez put in a header from seven yards away for a 1-0 lead.
Rowdies goalkeeper Diego Restrepo kept his team in the game as he made the best save of the match in the 29th minute when he stopped a lone breakaway by forward Paulo Jr. who shot from ten yards out. Fort Lauderdale dominated the first half as they had longer time of ball possession, an 8-1 shot advantage and a 4-1 edge in corner kicks.
Things changed after halftime as Tampa Bay took advantage of the windy conditions. They had seven corner kicks in the first 25 minutes in the second half. Their best attempt to tie the game happened in 71st minute off a corner kick as an eight-yard header by forward Lucky Mkosana was caught and saved by Strikers goalkeeper Richard Sanchez.
Fort Lauderdale stopped the Rowdies momentum during the 84th minute when they scored and extended their lead to 2-0. Paulo Jr. made a square pass toward his left to forward Bradlee Baladez and he blasted a 15-yard shot with the left foot.
The Rowdies broke the shutout three minutes into extra time and closed the margin to 2-1. Forward Carl Cort rocketed a 14-yard shot from the left side with the right foot past Sanchez and into the far side of the net.
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