The Charleston Battery rebounded from a two game losing streak to defeat conference rivals Richmond Kickers by a score of 1-0.
More than 2,795 fans watched a chippy battle between the first place Kickers and second place Battery on a rainy night at Blackbaud Stadium Friday night.
Battery striker Paul Conway increased his league-leading tally to 21 with his game winning goal in the 57th minute from Mac Cozier’s cross. Cozier gathered up a missed kicked ball from Richmond keeper Mike McGinty and sent it across the goal mouth were Conway causally tapped it in.
Both sides created scoring opportunities but the Battery out shot the Kickers 14-7, including a two spectacular diving saves by McGinty to denied a Conway header in the 81st minute and a curling blast from Cozier in the 84th minute.
Tempers flared in the later part of the second half when Richmond forward Josh Henderson tried to receive the Oscar award for “Best dive when I was hardly touched.”
Henderson went down like a house of cards and was immediately shown a yellow card by the referee for diving. After several minutes of moaning and an attempted retaliatory tackle, he was wisely substituted off by Richmond Coach Cowlishaw.
“It’s always a hard fought match between our teams,” said Battery goalkeeper Dusty Hudock. “They know what we bring and we know what they bring.”
Conway claimed the hard fought win was what the team needed to take it through the end of the season, erasing their previous poor performances against Portland and Vancouver.
The win over Richmond assures the Battery of a playoff spot and puts them with in striking distance to take 1st place of the A-league Central Conference.
The Battery’s final home match is Saturday, Sept. 8 against the Nashville Metro.
