RICHMOND, Va. (May 12, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies slipped below .500 with a narrow 1-0 loss to the Richmond Kickers at City Stadium on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay statistically dominated the match, but couldn’t kick the road bug in another frustrating performance.
Richmond’s Dane Kelly, the reigning USL Golden Boot Winner on loan from D.C. United, scored the only goal of the match in the 38th minute, receiving a cross from Austin Yearwood at the near post before finishing past Cody Mizell for a 1-0 Kickers lead.
“We dominated the game from start to finish and creates multiple chances,” Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell said. “We have to finish one of them. You look at the performance and (Richmond) pretty much scored from their first opportunity, but before they even had that chance, we should have been ahead.”
Tampa Bay piled up chance after chance, but just could not find a way to break a road scoring drought that has now reached 450 minutes. The Rowdies put three of 12 shots on frame.
The Rowdies had 60 percent possession and 30.7 percent of the match was played in Tampa Bay’s final third, but the pressure never produced a goal.
Rowdies center back Neill Collins nearly scored a diving header in the 14th minute, but pushed his effort wide.
Tampa Bay had a great scoring chance in the 28th minute when Georgi Hristov put a Michael Nanchoff corner kick on frame, but Richmond goalkeeper Travis Worra palmed the ball upward and kept it out of the goal before being fouled.
The Rowdies would’ve fell behind 2-0 in the 66th minute, if not for a big penalty save by Cody Mizell to deny Yudai Imura from the spot after Max Lachowecki was adjudged to have committed a handball in the box.
Energized by Mizell’s save, the Rowdies got back on the front foot and started racking up chances, but didn’t put enough of them on frame.
Worra saved an acrobatic attempt from Sebastian Guenzatti in the 78th minute and then made another save in the 90th minute to keep the Rowdies off the scoreboard.
Tampa Bay had one final scoring chance in stoppage time, but again put a header over the crossbar and out of play.
“I think we were creating chances for the entire match,” Campbell said. “All the way through the 95th, 96th minute, we were still creating. We have to convert one of them. It’s really, really frustrating and really disappointing given the attacking quality we’ve got on the pitch.”
Now, the Rowdies turn their focus toward the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. They’ll face the Jacksonville Armada in Jacksonville on Wednesday night before returning to USL play at home against Pittsburgh on Saturday, May 21.
Scoring Summary
Kickers: Dane Kelly – 38th minute (assisted by Austin Yearwood)
Caution Summary
Rowdies: Georgi Hristov – 35th minute
Rowdies: Max Lachowecki – 65th minute
Rowdies: Lance Rozeboom – 95th minute
Kickers: Conor Shanosky – 95th minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (4-3-3): GK Cody Mizell; D Kyle Curinga (Max Lachowecki 6′), Hunter Gorskie, Neill Collins, Zac Portillos; M Joe Cole (c), Lance Rozeboom, Marcel Schäfer; F Michael Nanchoff (Leo Fernandes 82′), Jochen Graf (Sebastian Guenzatti 59′), Georgi Hristov
Richmond Kickers XI (4-5-1): GK Travis Worra; D Alex Lee, Conor Shanosky (c), Mekeil Williams, Austin Yearwood; M Oscar Umar, Braeden Troyer, Raul Gonzalez, Yudai Imura (Heviel Cordoves 84′); M Brian Shriver (Koby Osei-Wusu 71′); F Dane Kelly (Matt Bolduc 71′)
