ST. PETERSBURG, FL – The Tampa Bay Rowdies fell 4-2 to Memphis 901 FC on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium. Forward Cal Jennings continued his productive scoring streak with a brace but it wasn’t enough to carry the shorthanded Rowdies squad to a result as Memphis pulled away in the second half.
The Rowdies were without center backs Aaron Guillen Forrest Lasso, who were both out with injuries picked up in recent weeks. Midfielder Jake Areman was also a late scratch in the week due to injury.
Head Coach Nicky Law missed out on the match as he remained in the UK due to U.S. Visa-related matters. With Law absent, Assistant Coach Stuart Dobson lead the team on the sideline against Memphis. Law is expected to rejoin the squad early next week.
“We had to play smarter, “said Dobson. “Without Forrest and Aaron, who are probably two of the best in the league, there is likely going to be a drop in quality. We had good enough players on the field to win tonight, but I think Forrest and Aaron really drive our team defensively and you saw that loss tonight.”
Tampa Bay struck first with a well-executed counter attack in the 17th minute. Midfielder Yann Ekra launched the scoring sequence, stripping the ball off of a Memphis player outside of Tampa Bay’s box and streaking down the field before slipping a through ball for Jennings. The Rowdies attacker made no mistake with his chance, burying his shot past keeper Drew Romig.
The lead was short-lived, though. In the 24th minute, a heavy touch by Ekra in Tampa Bay’s defensive end fell for Memphis’ Leston Paul, who quickly played the ball forward for teammate Rodrigo Da Costa to collect and promptly strike into the top left corner.
Jennings put the Rowdies ahead again in the 32nd minute. This time it was JJ Williams who fed Jennings with a well-weighted pass at midfield to slip Jennings behind the defensive line. Once inside the box, Jennings did well to cut inside to his right foot and blast the ball into the back of the net.
Memphis answered again only three minutes later. After winning a long ball played out of Tampa Bay’s box, the visitors charged forward and leveled things with a pass from Aiden McFadden to an unmarked Da Costa in the center of the box to finish.
The visitors found took the lead for the first time in the 67th minute. A pass from midfield snuck through Tampa Bay’s defensive line, setting Da Costa up for a run toward goal. Rowdies keeper Connor Sparrow rushed out to clear the ball before Da Costa could reach it and did so, but his clearance landed for Memphis’ Samuel Careaga, who took advantage of the open net with a shot from distance.
Memphis doubled its advantage in the 80th minute as the Rowdies pushed forward for an equalizer. Da Costa completed his hat trick with a right-footed effort past Sparrow as the Rowdies back line was outnumbered trying to thwart a counter.
Next up, the Rowdies travel for a matchup against Hartford Athletic this Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
“It’s going to be tough to go right back out there on Wednesday because we’re still going to have guys not healthy enough for the bench,” said Dobson. “I said to the guys there’s four games left in the regular season and we have to finish out strong. We want to go into the playoffs on a high. We have to turn things around in the next four games to where we’re firing on all cylinders.”
Scoring Summary
TBR – Jennings (Ekra), 17’
MEM – Da Costa (Paul), 24’
TBR – Jennings (Williams), 32’
MEM – Da Costa (McFadden), 35’
MEM – Careaga, 67′
MEM – Da Costa, (Careaga), 80′
Lineups
TBR: Sparrow, Doherty, Kleemann, Antley, Harris (LaCava, 29’ (Mkosana, 81′)), Hilton, Ekra, Perez (Dalgaard, 90+1′), Dennis, Jennings, Williams
MEM: Romig, MCFadden, Smith, Peters, Ward, Molloy, Paul, Turci, Fernando, Da Costa, Kelly