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EASTERN TALKING POINTS: Dos Santos’ Landmark Keys Throwback Rowdies’ Victory

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 08/30/21, 9:34AM EDT

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Legion FC cuts gap to LouCity to set up potential race; Moloto finding rhythm as Tulsa surges in Central


Steevan Dos Santos became the latest member of the USL Championship's 50-goal club on Saturday night in a key 2-0 victory for the Tampa Bay Rowdies against the Charlotte Independence at Al Lang Stadium. | Photo courtesy Matt May / Tampa Bay Rowdies

The USL Championship’s Eastern Conference saw the top of the Atlantic Division continue to produce separation from the chasing pack, while we might have a race for first in the Central Division going into the final 12 games of the season. Here are five takeaways from the past weekend’s action.

ROWDIES’ VICTORY A THROWBACK TO PAST

If you talk to members of the original Tampa Bay Rowdies, they’d tell you that they loved playing in the humidity of summer at home because as the second half progressed, their opponents fatigued, and they’d be able to close strongly. Nowadays that doesn’t apply as much given modern training and nutrition, but you couldn’t help but think of those old days with the way the Rowdies took a 2-0 victory against the Charlotte Independence on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium.

For the opening hour of the game, the visitors were regularly on top and had outshot their hosts, who at that point had yet to register an official shot on goal. That shifted in the following 20 minutes as the Rowdies took control, reeling off six consecutive shots while taking a two-goal lead that paved the way to victory. Also central to the tilt in direction of the game? The introduction of Steevan Dos Santos with 26 minutes to go as the Cape Verde forward struck twice to become the latest member of the USL Championship’s 50-goal club while Tampa Bay controlled the flow of the game in impressive fashion before seeing out its fourth consecutive shutout as Evan Louro notched a pair of saves.

“Honestly I thought the second half was one of our best performances of the season, and I thought the first half was one of our poorest," said Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins. “Everyone in the second half really raised their game and dominated many aspects. I thought Laurence Wyke showed some great energy and added moments of quality that were missing in the first half. Conner [Antley], that’s just what we’re about, that relentless energy. Pressing relentlessly in order to get the ball back and it paid off. It was great, especially with probably the fans spurring him on in the corner. It just gave us a little bit of extra in that moment.”

BIRMINGHAM PRODUCES, CUTS GAP TO LOUISVILLE

Going into Saturday night’s game at BBVA Field, Birmingham Legion FC knew with two games remaining this season against Central Division leader Louisville City FC and a seven-point gap between the sides in the standings, if the hosts were going to make it a two-team race at the top of the standings finding three points was going to be key, especially against a Louisville side missing some key figures throughout the lineup.

Thanks to JJ Williams’ late winner, Legion FC got the result it was looking for in a 2-1 victory that also saw Neco Brett notch his 12th goal of the season and made it a four-point gap with both teams sitting with 12 games to play in the regular season.

 “I think everybody knows what’s at stake,” said Legion FC assistant coach Khano Smith. “The fans, front office, we know, everyone knows that they’re the horse that we’re trying to catch. It was like a little semi-playoff atmosphere tonight; it was nice to live in that and hopefully people can keep coming out and supporting us because that’s the push the team needs sometimes. No doubt about it, you felt it, we felt that they gave the team the extra push there.”

Legion FC faces a key three-game road stretch next before playing six of its final nine games on home turf including a second meeting with LouCity on October 30, the final day of the regular season. If the side can keep up its form until then, we could get a first-place showdown by the time that game arrives.

MOLOTO DIALING IN AS TULSA RISES


Lebo Moloto's first two goals of the season for FC Tulsa on Saturday night against Atlanta United 2 continued the rising form of the influential midfielder after being moved into a more attacking role in recent weeks. | Photo courtesy FC Tulsa

One of the notable absences from FC Tulsa’s lineup early in the season was midfielder Lebo Moloto, who didn’t make his debut until the start of July due to injury. When he did, it was in a more withdrawn, central role that saw the South African putting in work defensively but not necessarily being the attacking force he had been known for during his career in the USL Championship to this point.

More recently, though, Moloto has been moved higher up the field and its paid dividends in both his creativity in the final third but also a strong three-game winning streak over the span of seven days that shifted Tulsa from the middle of the playoff race in the Central Division prior to its Week 18 victory on the road against Birmingham Legion FC to comfortably in third place after Saturday’s 4-1 victory against Atlanta United 2 at ONEOK Field. Moloto bagged his first two goals of the season four minutes apart for the hosts and has now recorded at least two key passes in six consecutive games, helping add another weapon to an attack that had already seen four different players reach five goals this season.

“We had a good start to the season and when it got to crunch time, we missed his presence,” said Tulsa Head Coach Michael Nsien. “We missed being able to secure the ball. Once he started to get going physically during the season, he added another level to our game. We started to ask a little bit more from him, moving him higher up the field. I expected more assists with his combination play, but I am asking him to take two or three shots a game, as far as what I want statistically from him. He is finding the back of the net, so he has gone above and beyond what I asked from him. Assists are what I expect, but for him to add goals to his game takes us to another level.”

Moloto now has 29 goals and 29 assists in the Championship’s regular season, moving him within one apiece of a pretty exclusive 30-30 club in the league’s history. Only four players have previously reached that mark in Solomon Asante, Aodhan Quinn, Jorge Herrera and Maikel Chang, with Louisville City FC’s Antoine Hoppenot also getting close at 28 goals and 31 assists.

HOUNDS PULL THROUGH AFTER HARTFORD CHALLENGE

Awarded its second penalty kick of the game after seeing its hosts reduced to 10 men moments earlier, the game seemed to be under control for Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday night against Hartford Athletic at Dillon Stadium. When Hartford goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell made his league-leading fourth penalty save of the season to deny Alex Dixon from the spot, though, it seemed to take some of the wind out of the sails of the Hounds, which carried over into the second half as a penalty kick for the Athletic by Danny Barrera put the hosts on top six minutes in.

With Hartford seemingly set for a battle for the playoffs against the Charlotte Independence and Charleston Battery over the remaining games of the season, the Hounds knew they would get a challenge, but the goal by Barrera seemed to flick the switch back on. Over the remaining 35 minutes, Pittsburgh made its man-advantage tell, first leveling through Dixon six minutes after Barrera’s goal before Russell Cicerone’s 13th goal of the season and second of the night lifted the visitors to a 3-2 victory that left Head Coach Bob Lilley seeing things to work on, but happy with the way his side pulled through in the end.

“I’d like to see us have more quality in our decision making to get around the edges,” said Lilley. “We had some control, but we didn’t take control like we should with an extra man. But our guys pushed and found a way to get a goal. At the end of the day, we were tough enough, and I hope we’re able to learn from this. I told the guys I’m proud of them. … That was a game Hartford needed to win, and we were able to go in and get the three points. The way it played out, even a tie would’ve felt like we dropped two points, so I’m happy we were able to close it out.”

BREAKTHROUGH FOR BASULJEVIC, CHAVEZ GIVES ENERGY FC LIFT

When it’s come to OKC Energy FC’s attack this season, there’s been Villyan Bijev, and frankly not much else. With nine goals and three assists going into Sunday evening’s clash with Rio Grande Valley FC at Taft Stadium, the playmaker had played a role in more than half Energy FC’s goals this season as consistent support had been difficult to find for the side as it remained in the postseason race primarily through a solid defensive unit.

Against the Toros, though, with the side under pressure to match Indy Eleven’s victory on Saturday to remain level on points in the middle of the Central Division playoff picture the duo of Jaime Chavez and Arun Basuljevic both produced their first goals of the season to earn a 2-1 victory that could loom large over the coming weeks. Basuljevic’s goal – his first since joining Energy FC prior to last season, with his last goal having come on July 20, 2019 for Fresno FC – proved the winner with 12 minutes to go, taking a weight off the attacking midfielder’s shoulders after going 29 games without finding the net in OKC’s colors.

“It’s been a tough year and a half, but this team, this club has shown faith and belief in me from the beginning,” said Basuljevic. “To get this goal in front of my parents who are in town was an amazing feeling and to get the three points makes it that much sweeter. But it’s in the past now. We have a game on Wednesday and a tough week ahead so that’s where my focus is.”

The pressure will remain on for OKC as it visits Memphis 901 FC on Wednesday night in another key game in the playoff race, but with both Chavez and Basuljevic having broken through the hope for Energy FC will be there is more to come from both to help carry the load from Bijev.

 

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