ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (June 9, 2018) — Leon Taylor scored a goal in his Tampa Bay Rowdies debut to help the home team to a point in a 1-1 draw against Nashville SC on Saturday night at Al Lang.
The draw extended Neill Collins’ unbeaten run at the helm to four matches and extended the Rowdies’ 18-game regular season unbeaten streak.
Here’s Three Things from the match…
1. A dream debut
After signing with the Rowdies on April 5, Leon Taylor had to watch 10 matches from afar while he waited for his opportunity to show what he can do. He been included in the matchday squad twice before Saturday night, but did not actually entered a match.
When his name did get called Saturday night, Taylor played freely and provided an immediate spark off the bench.
“(Taylor is) everything this club needs in terms of hunger, desire, almost has a chip on his shoulder,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said. “We need to get more of that. He’s really trained hard and deserved this chance but again it’s just the start.”
Taylor’s hunger manifested itself with an opportunistic finish from a ball bouncing around the box in the 84th minute to pull the Rowdies even.
After that match, Taylor spoke of the confidence Collins had instilled in him while he waited for his chance.
“Before he even became head coach, Neilly was always in my ear, helping me out,” Taylor said. “Neilly’s been playing the game for almost as long as I’ve been alive, so he’s seen a lot of football around the world and I always listen to him and am a student of the game. The minute he became head coach, he made me feel even better. He’s always been confident in me, always felt that I could do what I did tonight and he gave me the chance on my debut and I proved him right.”
Taylor said Collin’s instructions on the sideline before inserting Taylor into the fray were simply to replicate what he does in training every day. When Taylor scored, he said looking around at the faces of his teammates was the best part.
“These boys are like my brothers out here,” he said. “I’ve only known them for four or five months, but we’re a real, real tight group. Scoring and seeing the boys, just like your brothers, all go crazy feels really good just them being happy for you.”
2. A short bench
The Rowdies want to win every home game they play, but in context, they’ll probably be happy with the point they earned against a playoff contender in Nashville SC. For one, they trailed for more than an hour of Saturday’s match and were facing an in-form goalkeeper in Matt Pickens.
Beyond that, they were also limited to only 16 healthy and available players (plus a third goalkeeper that was omitted from the bench) for squad Saturday night for various reasons.
The Rowdies have maintained a small squad of 23 this year following Neill Collins’ transition to head coach late last month. Joe Cole and Marcel Schäfer were both suspended from the match, reducing the available players to 21. Four players (David Najem, Kyle Curinga, Zac Portillos and Lance Rozeboom) were all unavailable due to injuries, so Tampa Bay had only five players to put on the bench, rather than the usual seven.
“We need to fight through this stretch and turn those draws into wins,” Collins said. “We have six or seven players that were on the team sheet to start the season that are all out for various reasons. One being head coach, suspensions, long-term injuries, it was a pretty impressive performance.”
Of the 14 players that featured in the Rowdies’ season opener on March 17, only six appeared in Saturday night’s match.
There is an opportunity now for the Rowdies to get healthy and perhaps bring in reinforcements as Tampa Bay is on a bye next weekend and doesn’t play again until June 22.
3. What could have been
After trailing for more than an hour Saturday night and then scoring a late equalizer, the Rowdies actually had a golden chance to win the game outright early in stoppage time.
Junior Flemmings was working hard defensively and made a smart interception to steal a pass between Nashville defenders, winning the ball cleanly and finding himself racing into the box with only an onrushing Pickens to beat.
Flemmings acted quickly and shot, but couldn’t get his effort on frame. Taylor was available to his left-hand side, but the play happened so quickly Flemmings may not have realized it. Even if he found Taylor with a pass, it would have been a close call for offside.
While the Rowdies should overall be happy with the point they earned, there may just be a pang of regret about missing this chance to win.
