Led by goals from Cal Jennings and MD Myers, the Charleston Battery took a 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday evening at Patriots Point in the first meeting between the clubs since the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs.

The victory gave the Battery a bounce-back win after their loss in the Southern Derby last weekend, but sent the Rowdies to three defeats out of four on their season-opening road trip ahead of the club’s return to Al Lang Stadium next Saturday.

Here are three things we took away from the contest.

1. MD MYERS MAKES AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT

MD Myers was one of the key figures in the Battery’s success a season ago, and having been sidelined after an injury in preseason he seemed clearly ready to make up for lost time upon his introduction with just over 20 minutes to go. The center forward’s first touch almost resulted in his first goal of the season as he latched onto a good through-ball by Emilio Ycaza only to send his finish just wide of the left post, but headed finish in the 73rd minute off a curled delivery from the left by Chris Allan was an ideal way to get into a scoring rhythm.

“Watching the last few games, I’ve just been getting hungrier and hungrier,” said Myers. “When I got stuff done, I was just looking for opportunities immediately, kind of missed the first chance, but I wasn’t going to let the second one go away. So, it’s just that hunger that's been building up, and I was glad I could help the team.”

Myers had a second nicely taken finish ruled out after Houssou Landry was caught offside in the build-up, which would have given the Battery a nice cushion to see out the game with, but it’s going to be fascinating to see the possibilities Charleston has when he and Cal Jennings can be on the field together.

2. DON’T POKE THE LEAGUE’S BEST FINISHER

It hasn’t been the smoothest start to life in the USL Championship for Tampa Bay Rowdies goalkeeper Nicolás Campisi, who currently stands alone in the league this season with two errors that have led to goals for opponents. While he won’t get credited for another against the Battery, you might question the wisdom of trying to play mind games with the best scorer the league has seen this decade in Cal Jennings, which the Argentine attempted to do prior to Jennings’ late first-half penalty kick, pointing toward the left corner of the net to tell Jennings he knew where the shot was going.

Jennings’ finish – which went exactly where Campisi had indicated – was perfectly placed for his fourth goal of the season and led to Jennings giving it back to Campisi. As much as Jennings appeared to enjoy seeing some of his former teammates in his first game against the Rowdies after starring for them the past two seasons, the moment may not go down as the smartest idea Campisi’s had this year.

“At the end of the day, I just want to put it in the back of the net and I'm happy, happy we finished it,” said Jennings. “[Houssou] did a great job drawing the penalty, so I'm thankful it helped us move forward. But I leave what happened out there on the field.”

3. ROWDIES CAN TAKE POSITIVES, BUT STUCK IN NEUTRAL

One of the notable parts about the Rowdies’ slow start to the season has been the high volume of low percentage shots the club has notched previously this campaign. Going into the weekend, the side was tied for sixth with 45 shots – an average of 15 per game – but had only created one big chance per Opta’s metrics and sat with a 3.17 Expected Goals mark, sixth-lowest in the league and an average of 0.07 per shot.

Against the Battery, that average went up to 0.16 per shot, a testament to the quality of chances the side was able to create at times, but the Rowdies’ fortunes still appeared to be running cold as Robert Castellanos hit the woodwork from close range moments before halftime. For Head Coach Robbie Neilson, the bright moments were mitigated by times where his side wasn’t intent on getting on the front foot quickly enough.

“The worst thing in football is when you’re not playing positive,” said Neilson. “When you get the ball, your first thought has always got to be trying to go forward. … There were moments in the game tonight where we were just always looking to go backward. That’s not football in my opinion. It’s certainly not the club we want to be.”