USL-1 North Carolina FC

Diallo Sparks RailHawks Past Richmond

Published on June 9, 2009 under USL First Division (USL-1)
North Carolina FC News Release


CARY, N.C. - Carolina forward Hamed Diallo didn't wear his typical No. 19 shirt for the RailHawks on Tuesday night. But after his performance in the RailHawks' 2-1 win over the Richmond Kickers, the equipment manager might want to hide the uniform going forward.

Diallo, wearing No. 45 after misplacing his regular jersey, set up the RailHawks' first goal then scored the winner in the 48th minute to punch the RailHawks' ticket into the second round of the U.S. Open Cup for the third straight year. The RailHawks will play that second-round match on June 16 at WakeMed Soccer Park against the Wilmington Hammerheads, a 2-0 winner over the Charlotte Eagles on Tuesday night.

"It's big because Richmond are a really good team and I knew this was going to be a hard game," said Carolina coach Martin Rennie, whose RailHawks lost to the Kickers 1-0 in the preseason. "I mean, they're better than some of the teams in our league I believe, and so it was a hard first-round game. But we scored early, I thought okay, we're going to do really well tonight, and then we just eased off a little bit and gave away the penalty. But I thought the second half we played really well and we could have maybe scored on the break, as well, but I thought that the guys played really good."

The Kickers, 3-1-4 in USL-2, proved a difficult adversary for the RailHawks, who opened the last two Open Cups with amateur teams. Richmond almost scored in the second minute. Gerson Dos Santos hit a 30-yard free kick over the RailHawks' four-man wall, and goalkeeper Eric Reed (three saves) flew across the goal mouth and tipped it off the post.

When the RailHawks got their first chance, they capitalized.

In the 14th minute, Daniel Paladini flummoxed the Kickers' backline by executing a give-and-go with Diallo. Paladini sprung Diallo free inside the box, and when the defense was pulled toward the ball, Paladini ran unmarked into space, got the ball back and deposited it in the frame.

"I saw Diallo, and I know what he's gonna do, he's gonna give it back," said Paladini. "So I gave it to him, and he beat one player. I was wide open - and credit to him, he gave me a great ball and I just tapped it in."

Paladini has been on an absolute tear the last five games, where he has registered three goals and three assists.

But the RailHawks were unable to hold onto the lead. Just six minutes later, the Kickers equalized.

Richmond was awarded a penalty kick when Reed was called for a foul while challenging Kickers forward Matthew Delicate for a ball. David Bulow stepped to the spot and converted the chance, ending the RailHawks' shutout streak at 416 minutes.

It was just the second time this season (11 matches) that the RailHawks took a lead only to allow an equalizer. But like the other time (against Minnesota on April 11), the RailHawks came back and scored the winner early in the second half.

In the 48th minute, midfielder Josh Gardner raced down the left side, beat three defenders before finding Diallo on a centering pass. Diallo took a poor first touch, but he stayed with the ball and was able to knock it in the frame.

"Obviously it gives [me] great pleasure," Diallo said through the team's interpreter. "[I'm] very happy about it. We were up one-nothing and then they tied us up, and all you need to do is react and try to keep pushing, and that's what [I] did."

Diallo's entry on the score sheet makes him the 10th different RailHawk to score the team's 13 goals this season.

"That's almost a full starting lineup, so I think the overall scoring depth is important, and I believe in the next few games that we'll find out how good it is because there'll be a lot of different guys playing on Thursday and they'll have a chance to show what they can do," Rennie said.

Including Tuesday night's match, the RailHawks, winners of five on a row, will play five games in the 11 days. They return to WakeMed Soccer Park on Thursday, when they will meet the Portland Timbers at 7 p.m. in a USL-1 match, before a Sunday matinee (2:35 p.m.) with the Minnesota Thunder in Blaine, Minn.

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USL First Division Stories from June 9, 2009


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