Tampa Bay Rowdies 1-Nashville SC 1
Saturday night was a very strange night at Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was a homecoming for some (goalkeeper Matt Pickens), of old faces in new places (Neil Collins continuing his run as manager, with Joe Cole stepping on as an assistant coach) and of new clubs coming for the first time (Nashville SC). Despite all of the changes the Rowdies can at least appreciate the positive result: a 1-1 draw against Nashville.
Things looked like the might not go the Rowdies way early on. In the 22nd minute Nashville forward Nebo Moloto finished off a cross from Ropapa Mensah to give his side the 1-0 advantage. The goal was Moloto’s fourth of the season. In the second half Collins made a tactical substitution bringing on Leon Taylor for Sebastian Guenzatti in the 64th minute. The move paid off as it gave the Rowdies a bit more speed down the left flank. In the 83rd minute Taylor found the equalizer, capitalizing on a poor clear from the Nashville and slotting his shot past Pickens. The goal was Taylor’s first of the season.
The draw gives Tampa their fourth consecutive result (1-0-3, 5 points) and brings their 2018 record up to 5-3-5 on 18 points. As for Nashville while a road win would have been nice, they will take some comfort in getting any points out of a difficult environment like Al Lang Stadium. Their record stands at 5-5-2 on 20 points.
On hand to cover the match was Prost Amerika photographer Nelson Lucindo. Enjoy some of his photos from the match below and make sure to give him a shout out on Twitter.
Tampa Bay Rowdies
USL
