It wasn't supposed to happen, no one thought it would happen, and it did, as the Atlanta Silverbacks blew their chance to move a step closer to winning the Southern Derby Championship. The Silverbacks were tied in three team tournament featuring home-and-home series' between the Raleigh Capital Express, Charleston Battery and Atlanta. A win would help the Silverbacks to sweep the home-and-home against Raleigh and they would only have to win one of two against Charleston in mid-August to secure the trophy. Everyone expected a loss at home in front of a crowd this large, with injured Mifielders Ze Rodrigues and Tony Soto back in the line-up it appeared three points against the struggling Raleigh Express would be a certainty, didn't happen.
As always at this time of the year in Atlanta, it was a hot summer night and both teams came out ready to play. Atlanta got the first chance of the match as Ze Rodrigues got open inside the 18', however his shot was placed directly at the Raleigh Keeper, who easily made the save. As always, Rodrigues looked to be by far the fastest player on the field, but didn't get enough touches to show off some of his skill. The Capital Express struck first in the 15th minute, Striker Dotshenko's shot from outside the 18' found net to make the score 1-0. As the half wore on the Silverbacks began to look like their opponents do at Dekalb Memorial Stadium, frustrated. Their were no major chances the rest of the half. At halftime, Coach Nuno Pitiera substituted Ahmed Mohyeldin for Junuz Coralic. Mohyeldin moved up to Forward and Iggy Moleka dropped back to Midfield. In the 55th minute the Silverbacks equalized the game on Patrick Beech's simply outstanding volley just outside the left side of the 6' that found the side netting. The crowd went wild and you could feel the momentum switching to the Silverbacks' side. Then in the 61st minute Iggy Moleka's shot from outside the 18' was tipped over the net by Raleigh's keeper. Everything was going right for Atlanta, the crowd was going wild and everything seemed to be going Atlanta's way. But lack of communication inside the 18' ended up in another Dotshenko goal, as he found himself wide open at the top of the 6' and nailed an easy shot into the corner. In the 70th minute Brian Crane entered the match in place of Brian Piesner. It would only be a matter of time until one of the more offensive subs, Alex Bahr or Matt Elliot would enter the match. It became apparent that that would be the ideal move to make, Moleka was extremely fatigued. One time a Midfielder served Patrick Beech over the top and found he was behind the whole Raleigh defense, but Moleka was just outside the 18', way offside and perhaps a Beech breakaway (and equalizing goal), was called back. As the match wore on the Silverbacks just couldn't seem to maintain possession long enough to get any substantial chances. The match would end that way, and shockingly, Bahr nor Elliot entered the match to provide a spark up front. And a match Atlanta should have won, went down the drain as zero points, a crushing blow.
The Silverbacks usually look better than this at home, and a lot of the bad play might have been because of the loss of Tony Roberts (they've lost two straight since his departure), and Sylvan Bednar and Josh Henderson were suspended because of an accumulation of Yellow's. Still, Atlanta should have won this match, but they didn't.
Man of the Match
No choice on this one, Patrick Beech scored Atlanta's lone goal and was the only Silverbacks player who didn't seem out of gas at the final whistle. Beech leads the A-League in goals with twelve.
