USL-1 North Carolina FC

RailHawks escape Charleston with 1-0 win

Published on July 11, 2009 under USL First Division (USL-1)
North Carolina FC News Release


CHARLESTON, S.C. - Around midday Saturday, Carolina forward Sallieu Bundu was laying in his bed at the team hotel when he had a premonition that the RailHawks were going to beat the Battery later in the day.

"I told my roommate, Eric Reed, we're going to win today," Bundu said. "I just shouted out. And he was like, Sallieu, what? I said, we're going to take three points. I saw the win."

It was a tall order, considering no USL First Division team had defeated the Battery at Blackbaud Stadium all season.

But Bundu's belief was spot on, and he provided the winning goal to ensure that it would be so. Bundu's 26th-minute goal was the game's only score, and the RailHawks prevailed 1-0 over their Southern Derby Cup rival at BlackBaud Stadium.

"It was a real big win, and I thought for real long spells, we played really well," said RailHawks coach Martin Rennie. "Once we got a man sent off, we were under pressure, but we defended pretty well. I thought they had some territorial advantage, but they didn't have many clear chances. And I thought we had some clear chances and we could have scored more than we did. It's good a win."

The win also allows the RailHawks (8-4-3, 27 points) to retain a share of the Southern Derby Cup. Since the teams split the season's designated matches and the goal differential was even, each team will have the Cup in their possession for six months. The two-dozen strong contingent of RailHawks supporters to make the trip posed with the Cup on the field after the match.

In addition to retaining the Cup, the RailHawks improved to 3-0-0 all time at Blackbaud Stadium with Saturday's win and 7-1-0 in the all-time series with Charleston (8-3-6, 30 points).

After a stodgy first 20 minutes spent mostly in the midfield, the match opened up in the 24th minute when Charleston forward Randi Patterson was shown a red card after kicking Carolina's Caleb Norkus while he lay on the field.

Unlike previous occasions this season when the RailHawks were a man-up, they capitalized quickly. Less than two minutes later, the RailHawks took a 1-0 lead.

"That's really good because then it gets their head down a little bit," Rennie said. "Part of building a team is learning from things all the time. We learned from mistakes earlier, and I think we put that into practice today. When the other team loses a man, you have to get more intense, not less. And we did that."

Midfielder Josh Gardner sent a low cross in from the left flank, and Bundu was there to redirect it in. It's the second time this season those two hooked up for a goal (vs. Rochester on April 18).

"The other game against Wilmington, we had one like that, and I missed it," Bundu said."Since that day, I kept thinking if Josh got the ball, I need to make this one. All this time in practice, I've been working on it and working on it. As soon as I saw the chance, I went for it."

Gardner nearly doubled the RailHawks' advantage in the 48th minute. After some clever work on the ball, he created a look just inside the penalty area, but his left-footed try went just by the post.

The Battery, without their leading goal scorer Patterson, hardly put pressure on the RailHawks' backline over the first 60 minutes. Charleston's only real chance came in the 55th minute off a Tyoshi Yoshitake free kick. He served a dangerous ball to the back post, and defender Matt Bobo's was on the other end, but his header went wide of the frame.

But that all changed just past the hour mark when Gardner was shown his second yellow card in the 62nd minute. Things got chippy on the left flank between Gardner and Frankie Sanfilippo in front of the RailHawks' bench. Though a free kick was awarded to the RailHawks for Sanfilippo's foul, Gardner's actions after the play warranted yellow card in the referee's eyes. He'd picked up hist first of the night in the 55th minute.

With both teams at 10 men for the final half hour, the Battery proved the more dangerous side going forward.

In the 73rd minute, after the ball was knocked around the RailHawks penalty area, the ball found its way to the right foot of Charleston midfielder Scott Buete. But his chances from 12 yards went soaring over the crossbar.

Four minutes later, defender Obrian Woodbine hit a searing brace that was eyeing the upper corner of the frame, but it went just wide.

In the 87th minute, midfielder Stephen Armstrong hit a 30-yard free kick toward the low left-hand corner of the goal, but Reed, the Carolina goalkeeper turned it away. That save, Reed's third of the night, ensured his fourth shutout and the team's ninth of the season.

The RailHawks will try to continue their return back toward the top of the standings on Friday, when they face the Vancouver Whitecaps at WakeMed Soccer Park on Friday.

Check out the North Carolina FC Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



USL First Division Stories from July 11, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central