Charleston Battery Earn Convincing 2-0 Win Over Austin Aztex

June 5, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Austin Aztex News Release


AUSTIN, Texas - When the Charleston Battery's Darren Spicer split through the Aztex back line in the 10th minute, it instantly set a grim tone for the rest of the match.

After Spicer received the through-pass from Tyler Hemming, he slipped the ball past Aztex goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo to put Charleston up early 1-0. The Battery (6-0-4, 22 points) rode that momentum to a 2-0 victory that pushed their undefeated streak to 10 and spoiled Austin's chance for the first winning streak in franchise history.

From there, it didn't get better, and Austin head coach Adrian Heath admitted as much.

"The nature of the defeat was more disappointing. We looked like a young team playing against a group of men."

The Aztex (2-3-3, 9 points) struggled to find much of a rhythm after the Spicer goal, failing to put much pressure on Charleston. Austin only managed half as many shots on goal as Charleston in the first half and didn't look like much of a threat throughout.

The Battery didn't do much to threaten goal after netting the early score, but they didn't need to as Austin failed to link their midfield to their front line. The defense proved to struggle with their spacing, leaving the right side open for attacking Battery, though they didn't convert on the chances.

The Aztex still almost tallied an equalizer in stoppage time when Jeff Harwell, a recent U23 callup, whipped in a corner kick to the far post that was headed back in toward goal. The ball bounced around, eventually finding an unmarked Yordany Alvarez two yards from goal but Alvarez seemed surprised the ball came to him and his shot went over the goal, squelching Austin's best scoring chance of the half.

"They looked what they are," Heath said of the Battery's outing. "They're a top-of-the-table team. ... We looked pretty much the opposite. We're a young, inexperienced team and we looked like that tonight."

Formation changes at halftime yielded better results for the Aztex as they managed to create scoring opportunities. Charleston still managed to push the lead to two in the 66th minute on their only quality shot of the half. A Hemming corner kick bounced off of two Battery forwards before Matt Bobo finally made enough contact to seal the win for Charleston.

After Bobo's header, the outcome seemed determined.

"At no stage in the evening did I think we would win tonight," Heath said. "That's probably the first time I can say that. Even in the other games, I thought we could get a goal. ... I thought they were good, but I thought we were poor."

The struggles came despite the return of star forward Eddie Johnson to the Austin lineup. Johnson had been in England for the better part of three weeks waiting for work permit paperwork to be approved. Despite his presence, it wasn't enough to liven up the Aztex front line.



USL First Division Stories from June 5, 2009


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