Daniel Scott’s Rowdies Advance to NASL Final

Scott came on with the Rowdies 1-2 down
Photo: Matt May/Tampa Bay Rowdies

Former Portland Timber Keith Savage and former Kitsap Pumas captain Daniel Scott will be celebrating tonight after their Tampa Bay Rowdies advanced to the NASL final.

The second leg match with Carolina RailHawks, once managed by Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie, finished 3-3.

This gave the Rowdies a narrow 5-4 aggregate win after they had triumphed 1-2 in the away leg.

It wasn’t all plain sailing tonight though in Florida.

Their visitors had canceled out the aggregate lead in just 14 minutes and within four of that scored again to go two goals up on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.

Scott started on the bench but was called upon in the 40th minute when Japanese defender Takuya Yamada went off with a sprained MCL.

The score was 1-2 at that point after the Shane Hill had just converted a penalty for the Rowdies.

The Florida side scored the next two goals to give them a seemingly comfortable 5-3 aggregate lead but the RailHawks’ Nick Zimmerman scored an 87th minute penalty to leave the Rowdies having on by one goal until the final whistle.

After the match, Scott was full of praise for the real contest the opposition had brought from Carolina.

“All credit to the RailHawks who came here and gave us a real scare.  I thought the boys showed character and resiliency to come back after going two down.  I was happy to make the most of my opportunity and contribute to our team’s result which is the most important thing.

Scott, Savage and Tampa Bay head coach former Luton Town winger Ricky Hill must now wait to see if they play the San Antonio Scorpions or the Minnesota Stars in the final. Their first leg finished goalless and they meet on Sunday at Heroes Stadium in Texas.

Scott was looking forward to the final which would present him with the opportunity to add a second championship medal to that he won last year in the PDL. He was hoping some of his fans up here would lend their support in the NASL final.

I would  be honored if fans in the Pacific Northwest took and interest in the final and gave us a cheer.”

The final will be played over two legs on Saturday, October 20th and Saturday, October 27th.

Line-ups

Tampa Bay
GK Jeff Attinella, D Frankie Sanfilippo (Captain), D JP Rodrigues, D Takuya Yamada (Daniel Scott 40′), D Andres Arango, M Stuart Campbell (Evans Frimpong 87′), M Shane Hill, M Keith Savage, M Luke Mulholland, F Carl Cort, F Mike Ambersley

Carolina
GK Ray Burse, D Greg Shields, D Sam Stockley, D Gale Agbossoumonde, D Kupono Low (Captain), M Amir Lowery (Mike Palacio 84′), M Floyd Franks, M Nick Zimmerman, M Ty Shipalane, F Matt Luzunaris (Brian Ackley 77′), F Brian Shriver (Jason Garey 69′)