It was a dark and stormy night for all involved with Charleston's home match against Cincinnati. The Riverhawks brought some extra stormy baggage of theirs as well. Cincinnati have been a bit of a tough luck side of late and the tension being caused by their problems on and off the field are beginning to surface too often for the liking of this squad. They would need to put aside their difficulties, though, if they wanted to overcome a Charleston club that was in need of a win after some tough times of late.
The Battery needed a victory over the 'Hawks after stumbling in matches against New England in the Open Cup and against Richmond and Indiana in league play. They were gifted what appeared to be a dream start in a rain soaked Blackbaud Stadium as referee Dongho Kim whistled the Riverhawks for penalties in the 2nd and 6th minutes respectively. Unfortunately, Paul Conway was stricken by the 'View' jinx and missed both penalties. Yes, after being proclaimed one of the most consistent players in the league by yours truly he went out and promptly had one penalty saved while missing the goal on the other.
After a soaking wet and far from spectacular first half the teams went off for halftime to try and figure out what needed to be done. Charleston's task was far simpler. They simply needed to put one of their many opportunities away, whereas Cincinnati struggled to find any coherent plan of attack. Many times it seemed that only Simon Lowey and Jon Pickup were vocal enough to attempt to force their Riverhawk mates into anything resembling a proper defense or attack.
Shortly into the second half Paul Conway did finally finish a chance by scoring neatly into the near post from a well-taken Matt Farris corner kick. From there on it seemed that Cincinnati decided to pull everyone further back often leaving one or two men all alone in an effort to get the goal back. The only moments that they attempted to come further out of their half was when they were trying to mark Charleston players moving out of their own third of the field.
An interesting substitution was made in the 65th minute for the 'Hawks as they brought on former Columbus Crew prospect Mario Longo. Longo proved dangerous on a few chances late on for his team but his final touch let him down with some assistance from the conditions. Longo had some inspiring moments so it seems strange that he would ride the bench for a team that has seemed completely bereft of offensive capabilities.
Either way, any curiosity over the final result was put away in the 74th minute as Mac Cozier finished a chance that was created by Conway. In the end this match proved to be a test of Charleston's grit and determination on a night when things looked as if they might not go their way. Late on in this game fisticuffs nearly broke out over a throw-in as tensions boiled over from what had been an extremely physical match. The Battery were able to gut it out and get back on track. For Cincinnati it's back to the drawing board to see if they can salvage something from this display that seemed to show off a team very close to unraveling.
Lineups (grades in parentheses):
Charleston:
Dusty Hudock (6.5); Gilbert Jean-Baptiste (6), Dan Calichman (6.5), John Wilson (6); Jon Akin (6), Jukka Rantala (6.5), John Ball (6) -79th , Matt Farris (7), Brian Piesner (7.5) -75th ; Paul Conway (5.5), Mac Cozier (6)
Substitutes: Seamus Donnelly, 79th (6); Ryan Trout, 75th (5)
Cincinnati:
Brian O'Leary (8); Eric Descombes (5), Jon Pickup (6.5), Rick Roetkker (4.5), Scott Masturzzo (4.5) -60th ; Shawn Rockey (5), Robert Burlew (5.5) -65th , Marcel Matis (4.5) -56th , Simon Lowey (6.5); JT Roberts (4), Mike Mucino (4.5) -56th
Substitutes:
RJ Kaszuba, 56th (6); Myron Vaughn, 56th (5); Kevin Adam, 60th (5); Mario Longo, 65th (6.5)
Attendance: 2,535
