Orlando and Philadelphia share the points in late goal surge
Orlando City and Philadelphia Union shared the points on Saturday evening as they settled for a 2-2 draw at Orlando City Stadium in front of a reported 22,912 fans.
Orlando City opened the scoring in the 9th minute when Dom Dwyer headed home a Yoshimar Yotún free kick for his 12th goal of the season. The goal was the first conceded by the Union defense in nearly 280 minutes and marked the first time the blue and gold have trailed in a match since the first week of August.
The Lions may have doubled their lead 15 minutes later when Yotún beat Keegan Rosenberry down the left flank and his cross found Cristian Higuita. The Colombian did well from a tight angle to beat Union keeper Andre Blake but his effort came back off the far post and back into the arms of the Jamaica international.
The home side were made to pay for failing to extend the lead as Cory Burke leveled the score for the visitors in the 32nd minute from a pinpoint cross from Bořek Dočkal. Dočkal’s assist tied him with Kaku for the league lead with 14, but the Czech Republic international would not make it through to halftime as he picked up an ankle injury that saw Derrick Jones step into midfield in the 40th minute.
The second half was a drab, dull, low quality affair but it looked like the Union had taken all three points with two minutes left of normal time when they snatched a fortunate lead. Fafa Picault danced through the Orlando defense outside the top of the box and fired off a shot that took a wicked deflection off defender Shane O’Neill and flew into the net past a stranded Joe Bendik.
Two points would slip out from the Union’s grasp just three minutes later when left back Raymon Gaddis made a mistake that Josué Colman was able to seize upon. The young 20 year old Paraguayan did well to back heel the ball into Scott Sutter’s path and for the second time in four games, the Englishman fired the ball into the net to give his side a share of the spoils.
Lineups
Orlando City S.C.
Joe Bendik, Scott Sutter, Shane O’Neill, Carlos Ascues, Jonathan Spector, Will Johnson (Chris Mueller 76′), Oriol Rosell, Cristian Higuita (Josué Colman 57′), Sacha Kljestan (Stéfano Pinho 76′), Yoshimar Yotun, Dom Dwyer
Unused subs: Earl Edwards Jr., Amro Tarek, Pierre Da Silva, Victor Giro
Philadelphia Union
Andre Blake, Keegan Rosenberry, Jack Elliott, Auston Trusty, Raymon Gaddis, Alejandro Bedoya, Haris Medunjanin, C.J. Sapong (Ilsinho 61′) (David Accam 72′), Borek Dockal (Derrick Jones 40′), Fafa Picault, Cory Burke
Unused subs: John McCarthy, Fabinho, Mark McKenzie, Warren Creavall
Attendance: 22,912
