The Tampa Bay Rowdies, who have had trouble scoring all season long, managed only one goal Saturday night.
That was plenty.
The Rowdies picked up three points with a 1-0 victory over the Carolina Railhawks. Eric Avila scored his third goal of the year to lift the Rowdies, getting the goal after an assist from Darnell King.
“It’s great to be back home playing in front of our fans,” Rowdies coach Stuart Campbell said. “They were superb again tonight the way they supported us, the noise they made and the encouragement they showed the guys. It was crucial that we got three points for them.”
Avila’s goal came at the 22-minute mark. Avila, coming in off the left, cut behind Carolina’s Kareem Moses and put the ball past Brian Sylvestre with his first touch to put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0.
“It always feels nice to win and adding the goal is a plus,” Avila said. “It felt really good tonight.”
The Rowdies started the second half slow, but had another chance in the 52nd minute when Joe Cole took a hard shot from 25 yards out. Sylvestre dove to his left and got just enough glove on it to push it wide of the net.
Cole nearly got on the scoresheet again in the 63rd minute, spinning quickly and firing a shot from inside the box, but Sylvestre made a reflex save with his left foot.
Carolina tallied three shots on target on the night, but none were good enough to beat Matt Pickens, who recorded his third clean sheet in four matches and eighth of the season.
“The game, in general, slowed down in the second half, which we didn’t want,” Campbell said. “We spoke at halftime about approaching the game as if it was 0-0 and getting a second goal, but unfortunately we didn’t do that. We didn’t have to weather too bad of a storm, but they had a bit of possession. We did well.”
With the win, Tampa Bay kept pace in the race for The Championship, the NASL’s four-team postseason tournament. Minnesota United FC and Miami FC both lost on Saturday night, cutting the Rowdies’ deficit to just four points between them and Minnesota in the fourth spot in the NASL Combined Standings.
The Rowdies head to Fort Lauderdale next weekend for their final regular-season meeting of the year against the Strikers. The Rowdies have won both previous matches against Fort Lauderdale in 2016.
