Strikers Lose to Tampa Bay Rowdies 3-2 on a Late Goal
May 24, 2014 - North American Soccer League (NASL)
Fort Lauderdale Strikers News Release
St. Petersburg, FL - The Fort Lauderdale Strikers (4-0-3, 12 pts) faced their upstate rivals Tampa Bay Rowdies (2-3-2, 9 pts) needing a win to stay within striking distance of first place atop the NASL table. But a gut-wrenching, late goal by Tampa Bay's Blake Wagner gave the Rowdies the 3-2 win at Al Lang Stadium.
The Strikers played the second half down a man after Carlos Salazar who had received a yellow card in the 35th minute, received his second yellow in the 41st minute and was sent off.
The Strikers got on the board first with another great goal by Mark Anderson in the 19th minute. Anderson received a ball from Marius Ebbers and chipped the ball over the keeper to give the Strikers the 1-0 lead.
Strikers keeper Oka Nikolov, who had a spectacular night, made a great save on 28th minute when Tampa's Christopher Lallet received a cross just a few yards from the goal and tried to even up the score, but Nikolov was able to stop it with his feet and keep the Rowdies from scoring.
In the 32nd minute, Matt Hall came in for Fafa Picault who went down with an injury. Just a few minutes later, Hall made a great pass to Ebbers from about midfield to the top of the box. Ebbers centered the ball to Shawn Chin who scored on a header, making the score 2-0 in favor of the Strikers.
Just three minutes later, Hall took down the Rowdies' Georgi Hristov inside the box and the referee gave the Rowdies a PK. Hristov took the shot but Nikolov made a diving save to his right, keeping the Rowdies out of the net.
In the 45th minute, the Rowdies were able to cut the Strikers lead in half when Willie Hunt was able to score on a header off a corner kick, sending the teams to the locker room with a score of 2-1 in favor of the Strikers.
Nikolov continued to make great saves in the second half, but the Strikers were unable to stop the constant Rowdies attack, giving up two goals in the second. The Rowdies had 16 shots on goal in the game.
Rowdies Anthony Wallace was able to beat Nikolov with a strong shot from outside the box, tying the match at 2-2 in the 62nd minute.
The Strikers second substitution of the match also came due to an injury as Chin went down in the 69th minute and had to be replaced by Colin Murphy.
The visiting Strikers were hoping to salvage a point and hold off another late Rowdies attack, but Wagner scored a dramatic extra-time winner to defeat the visiting team.
The Strikers next league match is next Saturday, May 31st against the New York Cosmos at Lockhart Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Before then, the Strikers will take on the Laredo Heat at Lockhart Stadium in their first Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action this year on Wednesday, May 28th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for both matches are available at www.strikers.com or by calling 954-606-0400.
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