Robbie Neilson era off and running as Rowdies use strong second half to beat Rhode Island 4-1
Rowdies run away from Rhode Island after halftime
After two shaky second halves to open the season the Tampa Bay Rowdies scored four goals after halftime to dispatch USL Championship expansion club Rhode Island FC at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night.
Rhode Island jumped ahead in the 16th minute through a bit of direct play. Rhode Island keeper Jackson Lee launched a long ball out of his own box that found Albert Dikwa to slip past defender Forrest Lasso and collect the ball as it bounced just outside Tampa Bay’s box. Pushing the ball past Rowdies keeper Jordan Farr at the top of the box, Dikwa was able to bury the ball in the net.
For Dikwa, one of the more touted transfers within USL this past offseason it was his third goal in three games with his new club.
The slow start irked Tampa Bay Head Coach Robbie Neilson
“(the first twenty minutes )very erratic, honestly. I’m hoping the second half performance gave us the confidence to see it out over 90 minutes. So far this season, there are periods of that game that have been very good, and other periods of the game that are erratic and I felt the first 20 minutes was an erratic performance. I hope that getting confidence between each other, because we’ve got new guys coming in, everybody needs to understand each other’s qualities”
The Rowdies came out of the halftime break with urgency. Neilson discussed the atmosphere at halftime in the dressing room and what tactical tweaks were made to play a nearly flawless second half.
“We had a few words at halftime about what was expected in the second half, and I think the players reacted well. We were, I don’t want to say more direct, but more aggressive in our play to go and find the strikers and go find the midfielders and find the wingbacks. I thought we did that well and that allowed us to build up the pitch.”
The Rowdies were rewarded for the new attitude in the 55th minute. After a corner was cleared, Lasso deftly chipped the ball up and over the visitor’s back line, allowing Manuel Arteaga to swoop in and head the ball over the keeper and into the net.
From that point on, the match was firmly in Tampa Bay’s favor. Cal Jennings (who else?) notched the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute, connecting on a long ball played by the keeper Farr and slotting it home.
Defender Jordan Doherty got in on the act five minutes later, delivering a pinpoint header under the crossbar off of a free kick delivery from second-half substitute Josh Perez.
Midfielder Damian Rivera added a fourth goal for good measure in the 6th minute of added time, pouncing on an errant header by a defender back toward goal. The 21-year-old New England Revolution loanee deftly deposited his shot into the goal for his first Rowdies goal.
After a second half last week at WakeMed Soccer Park where the Rowdies were decidedly second best, the performance yesterday after about minute 38 was much better. Neilson was pleased with the difference in the aggression shown in passing forward using Leo Fernandes who is just getting back to full match fitness as a ten.
“It was more aggressive at passing. We were quite safe with our passing before, like last week in North Carolina. I felt like we started to find Leo (Fernandes). We moved him to more of the number 10 position to try and get him more into the game. We started to zip it in and started building up the pitch more. I think that’s important for us. We want to control games, but we have to do that in the opposition’s half. The first 30 minutes tonight we were mostly playing 30 yards from our own goal.”
The Rowdies go to Pittsburgh to face the struggling Riverhounds next week.
RIFC was playing its backup Keeper, and for I believe his first ever USL minutes. The lack of command, coming off his line, and miscommunications with his fullbacks were evident.....