RICHMOND, Va. (May 12, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies road woes continued Saturday night with a 1-0 loss to the Richmond Kickers at City Stadium, despite strong claims that the Rowdies were the superior team on the night.
Ultimately, the Rowdies lost the game and cannot dispute that, but they can glean a thing or two from the performance they put in as they attempt to solve the road conundrum.
Here’s Three Things from the match…
1. Mizell’s big save
The Rowdies were really up against it early in the second half. They were already down 1-0 and Max Lachowecki had just been called for a harsh handball in the box, giving Richmond a penalty kick and a great chance to double its lead to 2-0.
Whether the call was right or not — Lachowecki was hit by the shot as he turned away with his arms against his side — Yudai Imura stepped to the penalty spot expecting to score.
But Cody Mizell didn’t back down from the moment, diving to his left and making a huge save to keep the deficit at only one goal. Rowdies center back Neill Collins deserves a mention for following the play and clearing the rebound out of bounds.
While the Rowdies were ultimately unable to claw back from their 1-0 deficit, the task would have been even harder had Mizell not made the save. He tallied five total saves.
2. Lachowecki steps in
About a month ago, when the Rowdies played the New York Red Bulls II, right back David Najem sustained an early injury and departed the match in the first half. Saturday night, Rowdies right back Kyle Curinga sustained an early injury and departed the match in the first half.
On both occasions, the Rowdies had only a pair of left-footed defenders to turn to on the bench in center back Ivan Magalhães and left back Max Lachowecki.
In New York, Head Coach Stuart Campbell opted to move center back Hunter Gorskie to the right flank and insert Magalhães into a center back tandem with Neill Collins. In Richmond, Campbell instead kept his center back pairing intact, opting to put Lachowecki on the right side in only the sixth minute of play.
The move seemed to mostly pay off, with Lachowecki connecting on 49 passes and winning more than half his duels. He also had three tackles and two clearances, though it’s worth noting that Richmond’s goal came on a cross from the Rowdies’ right-hand side.
3. A quarter gone
Saturday night’s match was the Rowdies’ ninth of the season, meaning a litter more than one quarter of the season is gone with Tampa Bay sitting in 7th place in the Eastern Conference. As recently as April 28, when the Rowdies opened their three-game road trip in Charleston, Tampa Bay was in second place, just one point off the pace set by Louisville City FC.
With three-straight losses on the record, the Rowdies have dipped below .500 and slipped to seventh place, but there is reason to believe a swift climb back up the table could be on the cards.
After playing six of their first nine contests on the road (only Cincinnati has played the same number of road games so far), the Rowdies now have home-field advantage in six of their next eight USL matches.
