It turned out to be a beautiful evening for a few beers and a little footie in Charleston Saturday as the Battery avenged their season opening loss to the Eagles in Charlotte just last weekend. The Eagles shocked the Battery on the previous weekend but it seemed there was something in the air on this evening that said the Battery were out for some form of revenge.
The first half saw the majority of possession go to the home club but the Eagles looked very dangerous on several counter attacks. Caleb Norkus and Dustin Swinehart, in particular, looked impressive in creating several chances while running at the three man back line of Charleston. Dan Calichmann, an MLS veteran, looked a step or three slower than the speedy pair from Charlotte. Swinehart in particular did well running against the central defender. On the other side of the field, where most of the possession happened to be, John Ball was a creative force prior to his explosion in the second half. He, Paul Conway, and Mac Cozier helped lead the Battery to a 13-3 shot advantage at the half. Unfortunately, Cozier was taken off in the 33rd minute and was unable to get on the score sheet.
Brian Piesner was subbed on for Cozier and slipped in behind Velko Iotov who moved up into a striker's role. Iotov also combined well with Ball but the Eagles took advantage of having more space between Iotov and Piesner than there had been between the Bulgarian and Cozier. Eagle rookie Jose Gomez was given free reign on the right for several stretches during the first half when Piesner retreated too far into the defensive third while Iotov stayed up field in case of a turnover by the Eagles. That turnover didn't come and Gomez, along with Adams, Swinehart, and Norkus, appeared to be one of the best threats for Charlotte in the first half.
The second half brought a pair of explosive goals by the Battery at the hour mark. John Ball took a neat pass from Piesner and slotted it past Dwayne Adams who had done well in his positioning for most of the night for Charlotte. Then about ten minutes later Paul Conway collected a nice, by all accounts, 40 yard pass from John Wilson and duly stuck it in the net. Now, I say by all accounts because some people, myself foremost among them, had decided to get a drink at halftime. Needless to say the teams didn't wait for us to finish imbibing our drinks to kick-off. Instead they decided to score two goals leaving us to watch the last third of the match speculating the beauty, or lack thereof, of the double. Anyway, on with the show.
In the dearth of the match Jukka Rantala created a nice through ball for John Ball who collected in the Charlotte box and scored his second from an almost impossible angle on Adams' left side in the 82nd minute. Once the bonus point had been collected it was surprising that Coach Dicks didn't manage to put on any further substitutions especially with the fresh legs of Johnnie Keen and Pablo Webster. The pair of rookies could have done well to gain some valuable seasoning in helping to hold the lead for the last ten minutes of the match.
As far as the Eagles in the second half Ben Parry, Kevin O'Brien, Chris Allen, Ryan Lieb, and Jose Correa who came on for Hugo Galeano, had periods of solid play even though all goals in the match were conceded in the second. The good part for Charlotte is that they are a fairly youthful squad and should improve from here on out. The rematch this coming weekend should be very exciting indeed and should also help fan the flames of what could become a very exciting rivalry.
I'd also like to thank everyone who made the trip to Charleston so much fun; Andrew Bell, the staff of the Three Lions, the gameday operations people who dealt with many opening day glitches, Mark Loflin who was pretty much THE Eagles contingent, and last but definitely not least Kit and Karl from the Regiment. We had a blast and we'll definitely be back down. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
How they fared: (scale of 1-10, 10 being highest)
Charlotte Eagles
Dwayne Adams (GK): 6.5 Had a solid first half and his position was excellent. The three goals from 4 shots in the second half ruined what could've been a great night for him.
Ben Parry (D): 6 Consistent until the last half-hour when the last pair of goals were conceded.
Kevin O'Brien (D): 6.5 Took some time out of his busy schedule of defending to provide some decent passes out the back. Could be a dangerous player providing service to the midfield and creating counterattacks in the future.
Hugo Galeano (D): 5 Not particularly fantastic and not too shaky but it did seem that he was a bit overwhelmed at times. Has good potential in the center of their defense.
Chris Allen (D): 5.5 Played well throughout the first half as he and his defensive mates helped hold off the Battery attack but fatigue may have played a factor with his fall off late in the second.
Ryan Leib (M): 6 Played well even though he is supposed to be one of their big threats he disappeared for several stretches. Probably had more to do with Rantala and Ball than his own game fizzling while fatigue could've been a factor for this entire club.
Nathan Watkins (M): 6.5 Played well in tracking back in the first half and it appeared that his role is to provide an occasional link up from midfield while playing more defensive mid. Played far more defense than he may have last week at home but was adequate.
Mark Pinch (M): 5.5 Largely invisible in the first half but did provide a few nice touches in the second half. He also tracked back well when they were under pressure in the first half.
Jose Gomez (M): 7 Gomez was by far the most dangerous looking midfielder for the Eagles during the first half because of his first touch and the space he was given. He linked well with Norkus and should only get better. If he and Leib catch fire at the same time as Swinehart and Norkus this team will be very tough.
Caleb Norkus (M): 7.5 Every time he touched the ball in the first half he looked dangerous and was one pass away from creating several scoring chances for Swinehart on many occasions. He ran out of gas a bit too early in the second half.
Dustin Swinehart (F): 8 Swinehart is a horse out there. He works for 90+ minutes and that's why he scores his goals. He's not the biggest but he could very well become the best. Too many times he was left to do too much one on one work up top or found himself tracking a bit too far back to get back into the attack quick enough but it's hard to find fault with anything in his game.
Subs:
Jose Correa (F): 6.5 He was possibly their best player off the bench.
Rob Mouw (F): 5 Much like the other offensive subs he didn't have nearly enough chances because of Charleston's hunt for the bonus point to give him much of a grade.
Jeff Johnson (F): 4.5 Did little to impress in limited action especially in committing a couple of fouls late in the match.
Matt Miller (D): 4.5 Came on for O'Brien and was unable to really help relieve much of the pressure on the back line of the Eagles even with fresh legs.
Marcello Gonzales (M): 5 Came on for Pinch in the 75th minute but did little to create any offense.
Charleston Battery:
Dusty Hudock (GK): 6.5 An average night for Dusty in shutting out the Eagles even though he did make some good early saves against the Charlotte counter attack.
John Wilson (D): 7 Was a rock in the back and provided an excellent 40 yard ball that caused the second goal. All in a day's work.
Dan Calichman (D): 4.5 Was either still fatigued from the previous night's match against the Dynamo or has lost a couple of steps. Swinehart gave him fits early on. Still solid when he stays at home… when he stays at home.
Gilbert Jean-Baptiste (D): 6 Deserves a higher rating for not getting himself or his teammates burned from his offensive runs but somehow always manages to get back in time. Needless to say this three man back line may not work against more experienced squads.
Scott Cannon (M): 6 Created some quality chances from midfield instead of being back in defense. He may need to become that extra stay at home back to provide cover should Calichman find it rough going up against the faster forwards in the league. Either way, some people would kill to have Cannon and Wilson making passes out of the back.
Jukka Rantala (M): 6.5 Jukka so far seems to be nothing if not consistent. You don't realize how good this guy is until you single him out while he's on the field and watch him play amongst some of the bigger trees in the forest if I can be given some leeway for poetic license.
Matt Farris (M): 5 Was neither bad no good, just kind of there. The early yellow due to a slightly over zealous tackle and referee might have taken the best edge off his game.
Velko Iotov (M/F): 6.5 Played equally well in creating chances from the midfield and up top trying to convert chances. Helped tremendously playing up top in the second half to open up space in the middle of the park for Ball.
John Ball (M): 8 His two goals and numerous dangerous runs through the midfield into Charlotte's offensive third made him man off the match.
Paul Conway (F): 6 Played well and took his goal cleanly but seemed to disappear for stretches during the match. Could be wrong though since I disappeared for stretches of the match as well….
Mac Cozier (F): 6.5 Mac created several chances in the early portion of this match but was taken off too early to capitalize. It should be interesting seeing who Dicks picks up top in the next match since Iotov did well in his absence.
Subs:
Brian Piesner (M): 5.5 Left way too much space for Gomez to work in once he came in for Cozier although he did have a nice assist on the first goal.
Darren Warham (D): 5 Was solid in replacing Calichman for the final 30 minutes or so of the match.
Jon Akin (F): 5 Had a quiet 15 minutes with John Ball providing the late fireworks… well, besides the light show everyone got after the match.
