The Fort Lauderdale faced their cross-state rivals on Saturday night and edged the Tampa Bay Rowdies 1-0 in the Florida Derby at Lockhart Stadium. The Strikers are undefeated in their last two games while the Rowdies have dropped two straight.
The Rowdies had defeated the Strikers 3-2 at Al Lang Stadium back on May 24. The Coastal Cup will be decided on September 27 when Fort Lauderdale travels to Tampa Bay.
Fort Lauderdale(1-2-1, 4 points) commanded the first 35 minutes of the contest as they had seven shooting attempts on goal and held Tampa Bay to no corner kicks. Rowdies goalkeeper Matt Pickens made three saves during that time span.
Tampa Bay(2-2-0, 6 points) took over in the final ten minutes of the first half. They got their best scoring opportunity in the 43rd minute. Forward Georgi Hristov passed from the right end line across the six-yard box by Strikers goalkeeper Kamil Contofalsky, however defender Blake Wagner missed a wide open net from five yards out with a sliding left-footed shot that went wide left of the goalmouth.
The Strikers controlled the action early in the second half and it paid off as they scored the only goal of the game with an outburst in the 72nd minute. Forward Jenison fired a shot from 20 yards away which hit the crossbar. Forward Fafa Picault followed with an 11-yard shot from the right side that went into the low left corner of the net for a Fort Lauderdale 1-0 lead.
The Rowdies had two chances to tie the game in the final six minutes. Midfielder Evans Frimpong blasted a shot from 22 yards out that was saved in the 85th minute and defender Tamika Mkandawire hit a head ball barely over the crossbar in the 90th minute.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment