ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (July 1, 2019) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies rode a stoppage time game-winning goal back to the top of the table Saturday night, beating Ottawa Fury FC 2-1 in dramatic fashion.
Here’s Three Things from the match…
1. The halfway point
With 17 games played and 17 games left on the schedule, the Rowdies have officially reached the halfway point of the USL Championship regular season. The opening half of the year has been a good one to the Rowdies, with Neill Collins’ side sitting atop the table with a record of 10-1-6 (W-L-D).
The three teams just behind the Rowdies in the table have only played 16 matches and the Indy Eleven is within striking distance with its game in hand, but take nothing away from the season the Rowdies are having so far.
Tampa Bay’s 36 points are the most in the league, just ahead of Phoenix Rising FC’s 35 in the Western Conference. The Rowdies lead the Eastern Conference in goal differential at +16 and, along with Indy have the most clean sheets (9) and the fewest goals conceded (10.)
The Rowdies point haul of 36 from the first 17 matches exceeds their total from 2017, when Tampa Bay finished third in the East. That season, the Rowdies didn’t reach 36 points until August 5, 22 matches into the year. The Rowdies didn’t reach 36 points until September 18 last season, 29 matches into the year.
The Rowdies have played an unbalanced home/road split this year and will have to venture away from home 10 more times this year, compared to seven home games in the second half, but even that might be as unfriendly as it would seem. The Rowdies are picking up an astonishing 2.5 points per game away from Al Lang this season with a 5-0-2 (W-L-T) record.
2. Lucky’s return
Prior to Saturday night, Lucky Mkosana’s last appearance for the Rowdies came on November 1, 2014, a 19-minute cameo off the bench against the Indy Eleven in the final game of the 2014 season. Fast forward a mere 1,702 days and Lucky Mkosana was again entering a match off the bench for the Rowdies.
Mkosana arrived in St. Petersburg for his second debut Friday morning and didn’t have a chance to train with his new teammates before being thrust into a high leverage situation in Saturday night’s match. The Rowdies needed a goal against a packed-in and time-wasting Ottawa defense to reclaim first place and avoid dropping points at home. Despite his lack of training time and familiarity, he made an instant impact on the field.
“I think Lucky’s going to be a fantastic addition,” Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins said. “He had an assist tonight and great energy. He suits our style of play and is a fantastic guy in the locker room and I think he’ll fit in just great. The best way for a player to endear himself to his new teammates is to come on and play like that. It’s a good start.”
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Mkosana’s assist was for one of the few Rowdies he had ever played with in Sebastian Guenzatti. The two played together for the New York Cosmos in 2015 and 2016.
3. Impact off the bench
Mkosana wasn’t the only player to change the game from the bench, with impressive appearances from Kwadwo Poku and Malik Johnson as well in the second half. Johnson’s hard work down the left wing and on the endline created the opportunity for Mkosana’s assist on the game-winning goal.
That kind of impact off the bench is exactly what Neill Collins has been hoping for all season.
“If I had any negatives of the first half of the season, it would be that off the bench when we need a goal, we’ve just not quite had that spark,” he said. “We’ve had people come on and do great jobs at seeing out games and doing their roles, but at home, we’ve just never had a spark off the bench. I had so many options tonight. There’s other boys I could have brought on that probably would have done something, but having said that, Lucky (Mkosana,) (Kwadwo) Poku and Malik (Johnson,) their impact off the bench won us the game.”
