Tampa Bay Rowdies defeat Toronto FC II 4-0 to go top of USL Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay Rowdies climbed to the top of the USL Eastern Conference standings for the first time with a convincing 4-0 victory over Toronto FC II at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday night.
The Rowdies fielded an unchanged starting lineup from the opening day’s 1-0 win over Orlando City B and they immediately settled into a groove when Damion Lowe (pictured above) opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a fine header from a pin point cross by Michael Nanchoff.
The floodgates then opened as the Rowdies then added two more goals in a hectic ten minute spell. Rowdies now have two wins from two matches in the United Soccer League and have yet to concede a goal. Nanchoff grabbed another assist in the 20th minute, sending a low pass forward that was smartly dummied by Leo Fernandes before reaching Georgi Hristov (pictured above), who found himself unmarked with only Reds goalkeeper Mark Pais to beat. The Bulgarian calmly finished to the right side of the goal for his second goal of the season.
Joe Cole (pictured above) then smashed home his first goal of the year in the 22nd minute from a Marcel Schäfer pass to give the home side an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Deshorn Brown (pictured above) completed the 4-0 scoreline in the 70th minute, scoring just four minutes into his Rowdies debut. Brown finished from close range from a low Schäfer cross from the left wing. The Rowdies should have scored twice more as both Hristov and Brown both missed glorious chances to add to the lead.Hristov should have made it 5-0 but somehow he missed a tap in from six yards with a gaping net in front of him while Brown fired high over the bar from a slightly more difficult opportunity.
“We were happy with the result and the performance from last week and we just talking about building on it,” Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell said. “We want to make this place a fortress. We want to make teams hate to come here.”
“We played really well last week and we played well tonight,” skipper Joe Cole said. “The difference was we put the ball in the back of the net. It’s a good start for us. It’s great that the crowd turned out tonight. We want to put on a show and get the whole city behind us. You can’t do much more than score four goals.”
The Rowdies now have two wins from two matches in the United Soccer League and have yet to concede a goal. Tampa Bay will go for three wins from three games next Saturday, April 8, when it welcomes old foe Ottawa Fury FC to Al Lang Stadium for the teams’ first clash in the USL era. For tickets, call (727) 222-2000 or click here.
Starting Lineups
Rowdies XI (4-2-3-1): GK Akira Fitzgerald; D Darnell King, Damion Lowe, Neill Collins, Luke Boden; M Martin Vingaard, Marcel Schäfer; M Michael Nanchoff (Darwin Jones 71′), Joe Cole (c) (Deshorn Brown 66′), Leo Fernandes (Alex Morrell 81′); F Georgi Hristov
Toronto FC II XI (3-5-2): GK Mark Pais; D Jason Hernandez, Brandon Aubrey, Lars Eckenrode (Brandon Onkony 20′); M Liam Fraser, Brian James (c), Luca Uccello, Tsubasa Endoh, Anthony Osorio; F Ryan Telfer (Sergio Camargo 71′), Ben Spencer
Attendance: 4,326
More photos at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com
