Two early goals from the Tampa Bay Rowdies were enough to beat Hartford Athletic tonight, as the home side fell 2-0.
After a quiet opening ten minutes to tonight’s match, Tampa Bay took the early lead in the 16th minute. Lewis HIlton squared a strike from well outside the box that hit the left post, then deflected off the back of Joe Rice and into the net.
Hartford nearly equalized nine minutes after conceding, but Prince Saydee was called offside after a deflected pass fell to him in the box. He beat Tampa Bay keeper Connor Sparrow to the bottom left side of the net, but the goal was called off. On the ensuing possession, Jerome Williams chased down a through ball into the Hartford third. He dribbled from right to left in the box to beat one defender then fired a shot that was saved by Joe Rice. The rebound then deflected off of a sliding Beverly Makanginla and into the net for an own goal. A two-goal swing, as Tampa Bay doubled their lead less than a minute after Hartford came just a few feet away from tying the game.
Hartford responded by creating a chance in the 28th minute for Elvis Amoh. Juan Pablo Torres played a quality ball to the striker in the box, but Amoh’s well-struck shot was saved by Sparrow. It would be Hartford’s final shot on target of the half, as they took to the locker room down 2-0.
Amoh was again at the center of a scoring chance for Hartford early in the second half. He received a pass from Andre Lewis in the box and put a left-footed shot on target, but was denied again by Sparrow.
Hartford were in control for the rest of the second half, but could not tally a goal. Danny Barrera had a good look from inside the box in the 72nd minute, but his shot went above the crossbar. Amoh had another chance in stoppage time, putting one more shot on target from inside the box, but Sparrow made his fourth and final save. Hartford out shot Tampa Bay 16 to seven in total, and had 25 touches in their box to the Rowdies’ nine. 2-0 was the final score.
Hartford hit the road to play Miami FC this Saturday at 7:00 PM, and return home next Wednesday, October 4th, to play Rio Grande Valley FC Toros. The game is a restart of the postponed match on September 9th. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM.
Shots (On-Target): Hartford 4 Tampa 2
Corners: Hartford 2 Tampa 1
Fouls: Hartford 12 Tampa 9
Offsides: Hartford 3 Tampa 2
Possession: Hartford 51.3% Tampa 48.7%
Passing Accuracy: Hartford 84.1% Tampa 83.1%
Saves: Hartford 1 Detroit 5
SCORING SUMMARY:
Tampa: 16’ – Joe Rice (Own Goal)
Tampa: 26’ – Beverly Makangila (Own Goal)
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY:
11’ – Yan Ekra (TB) (Yellow)
25’ – Namazi (Yellow)
56’- McGlynn (Yellow)
58’- Martinez (TB) (Yellow)
69’- Kibato (Yellow)
HARTFORD ATHLETIC STARTING LINEUP
13 (GK) Joe Rice, 19 (D) Luke Merrill (Rito, 64’), 50 (D) Niall Logue (Dobruna, 64’), 28 (D) Conor McGlynn, 21 (M) Kembo Kibato, 6 (M) Beverly Makangila (Edwards, 59’), 77 (M) Andre Lewis, 7 (F) Prince Saydee, 22 (D) Robin Lapert (Hodge, 58’), 9 (F) Elvis Amoh, 8 (M) Juan Pablo Torres (Barrera, 45’).
TAMPA BAY ROWDIES FC STARTING LINEUP
1 (GK) Connor Sparrow, 2 (D) William Antley, 19 (D) Freddy Kleemann, 22 (M) Jordan Doherty, 16 (F) Jake LaCava, 4 (M) Lewis Hilton (Martinez, 45’), 98 (F) Joshua Pérez (Mkosana, 86’), 7 (M) Yann Ekra, 9 (F) Jerome Williams, 26 (F) Cal Jennings (Dalgaard, 72’), 14 (M) Charlie Dennis.
