The Tampa Bay Rowdies were a few minutes away from a miraculous comeback victory against San Antonio FC on Saturday night at Toyota Field. However, a late concession in stoppage time left the Rowdies with a hard-earned point to take home.
With Rowdies Head Coach Nicky Law in the UK due to U.S. Visa-related matters, Rowdies Assistant Coach Stuart Dobson led the team on the sideline against San Antonio.
“When you’re down two goals and you’re dealing with absences of key guys because of injury, rarely would I expect to get anything out of a game like that,” said Dobson. “But these guys showed great character to come away with a point. This is one of those games that makes the whole coaching staff proud of the team with the way they faced adversity. If we can take that effort into our remaining five games and then the playoffs, there’s not many teams that can beat us.”
San Antonio dominated the first half of play and pulled ahead in the 22nd minute when Santiago Patino buried a cross sent in from the right flank. Making matters worse for Tampa Bay, center back Forrest Lasso’s night came to an early end as he was subbed off after the goal with an injury picked up a few moments prior. The Rowdies were already contending with the absence of regulars Aaron Guillen and Conner Antley, who both exited last week’s match with knocks.
Tampa Bay did find a promising chance in the 26th minute. A well-placed cross from Dayonn Harris landed in the box for Cal Jennings, who managed to push the ball out to JJ Williams. The Rowdies striker took a touch to create space and sent a shot at keeper Nick Marsman. The resulting rebound fell favorably for Williams, but his second attempt was also snuffed out by Marsman.
Aided by three saves from keeper Connor Sparrow, the Rowdies kept the deficit to one goal at the halftime break. However, San Antonio quickly doubled their advantage six minutes into the second half. Launching a counter attack, the hosts moved down the right wing to find Nathan Fogaca, who penetrated the box and powered a shot into the top corner at the near post.
Just as the match appeared to be slipping away, the Rowdies found life off of a header from Williams in the 67th minute. Capitalizing on a poor clearance by San Antonio, Tampa Bay’s Jake Areman picked up the ball and swiftly fired in a pinpoint cross from the left for Williams to head home.
Four minutes later, the Rowdies found their way back to level terms. Turning toward goal at the edge of the box, Rowdies midfielder Charlie Dennis was pulled down by San Antonio’s Jacori Hayes, drawing a whistle from the center referee. Dennis stepped to the penalty spot and converted the chance himself with a left-footed strike as Marsman dove the opposite direction.
“The Rowdies play one way,” said Dobson. “We’re always gonna go and try to win it. We had a plan to bring on all our attackers that were on the bench at a certain point, but luckily before that we get one goal, and then another goal very quickly after that. So we didn’t have to gamble and shake things up with changes.”
The Rowdies finally earned their first lead of the night through the effort of Joshua Perez, who had entered as an early substitute for the injured Lasso. Receiving a lay off from Williams just inside San Antonio’s defensive end, Perez drove forward with the ball before ripping a shot from outside the box that took a friendly deflection off of a sliding defender to pop over Marsman and fall just under the crossbar.
Tampa Bay’s lead held until the second minute of stoppage time. San Antonio’s Juan Azocar served in a corner kick that made its way to Igancio Bailone for a header at the back post.
“It’s disappointing to lose a goal at the end there,” said Dobson. “It’s another lesson for us. There’s a hint of dissapointment with this result that we didn’t get the three points but, like I told the lads, if we play the way we did in the second half the rest of the way we’re going to go a long way this season.”
With the draw, the Rowdies sit three points back of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Pittsbburgh posted a 1-0 win at Miami FC on Saturday to increase their lead in the standings. The Rowdies still have a game in hand on Pittsburgh with five matches remaining in their regular season schedule.
Next up, the Rowdies return home to host Memphis 901 FC on Saturday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Scoring Summary
SA – Patino (Fogaca), 22′
SA – Fogaca (Oluwaseyi), 51′
TBR – Williams (Areman), 67′
TBR – Dennis (penalty), 71′
TBR – Perez, 81′
SA – Bailone (Azocar), 90+2′
Lineups
TBR: Sparrow, Doherty, Lasso (Perez), Kleemann, Areman, Harris (LaCava, 84′), Hilton, Ekra, Dennis, Jennings (Martinez, 89′), Williams
SA: Marsman, Maloney, Garcia, Taintor, Jome Fogaca, Hernandez, Zouhir, Hayes, Patino, Oluwaseyi
