Ten-man Rowdies show new promise but fall at the death
Work remains to be done on the Rowdies hopes for a revival
Under new Head Coach Dominic Casciato, the Rowdies looked a more organized side on Saturday with a clear tactical plan. Using Woobens Pacius and Manu Arteaga high-up to press (Arteaga’s pressing was vaunted when he was previously with Indy Eleven and Phoenix Rising) with a support of a midfield trio and two wingbacks looked promising. Tampa Bay held a San Antonio side that had been surging of late (after being fairly lousy for the previous two months following a hot start) at bay.
True the Rowdies themselves were not able to consistently build-up sustainable patterns of play nor did the midfield look particularly sharp. Lewis Hilton had his weakest match since his return from injury a little over a month ago, while Luis Álvarez failed to impact the proceedings in a meaningful way.
Still though, the Rowdies looked poised to get a point until Forest Lasso’s sending off in minute 67 for a second bookable offense. From that point onward, the Rowdies were just trying to hang on to the 0-0 scoreline.
They almost pulled it off- but in second half stoppage time, Andres Paredes surged past a pair of defenders and delivered a clean ball in the box for Luke Haakenson to tap in the game-winning goal in the final minute of play.
It was a bitter loss for the Rowdies who despite the uneven look of the midfield, had an actual plan that they executed under a manager who will just be getting familiar with his squad.
The result also temporarily dropped Tampa Bay into 24th place in the 24-team USL Championship. but that should change Wednesday with a trip to Hartford who sit just one place above the Rowdies in both the overall table and Eastern Conference. Despite signs of life of late in Hartford, Tampa Bay already looked a revived side the final few weeks under Steve Coleman and now with Casciato at the helm seem poised to push up the table in the east.
However, even a win in Hartford would still mean Tampa Bay would have another month away from home to navigate before returning to Al Lang on August 16th against Phoenix.