Silverbacks 2 Battery 1
Fabian Dawkins announced his presence to the league last night and was rewarded with some sort of silly goal celebration that he was able to show off twice. We're still not sure exactly what all the extra calisthenics were about but it may be some sort of new coach's policy a la the movie, Major League, where pop ups meant push ups. What Dawkins may have lacked in celebration he made up for in finishing and looked dangerous most of the night. The Battery thought they would share the spoils after an 82nd minute equalizer from late substitution Chris Goos but it was not meant to be as an astute counter-attack from the visitors resulted in jumping jacks and fireworks leaving the Battery faithful to bemoan several opportunities that had been left wanting by poor finishing.
The first 45 minutes seemed a bit of a sparring session as each club tried to ferret out the opposition's weaknesses. The home side managed to challenge the Atlanta area early and fairly often but lackluster finishing from the Battery attack, largely Greg Simmonds, Jesus Martinez, and Andres Perez, missed that crucial touch which could have changed the entire complexion of the game. Meanwhile, Atlanta played an intelligent away game, waiting for countering opportunities and competently defending.
The second 45 minutes proved to be far more exciting for fans as Atlanta began to send more long balls for the speedy Dawkins to attack in the offensive third. Meanwhile, the Battery maintained their possession through a fairly fluid midfield passing game. It seemed only a matter of time until someone managed the breakthrough goal that at the time seemed odds on to come from the home team. The substitution of Kris Stone proved to be pivotal as his pace through midfield may have been too much for potentially tired Battery legs to deal with in the second half and resulted in the opening goal for Dawkins. Charleston then upped the tempo a bit and began a resolute series of attacks on Atlanta's goal when they would eventually get their first goal in the 2005 season from Goos. Alas, a draw was not meant to be had as the Battery defense was split open again while trying to push for a late winner and Dawkins once again decided jumping jacks were indeed great fun and a fitting end to the evening. Unfortunately, after the match the visitors did not seem content with their victory and gathered at midfield to do what could only be described as a failed attempt at the hokey pokey which incensed some of the Battery players. Luckily, slightly cooler heads prevailed before anything serious could kick-off between the opposing sides.
For the Battery, finishing is once again the great hill left to climb and for Atlanta they will feel very confident having taken 6 of 9 points on the road to begin their season.
Upcoming matches:
Charleston - 4/29 Virginia Beach
4/30 @ Atlanta
Atlanta - 4/30 Charleston
Scoring Summary:
Atlanta Silverbacks Dawkins (Stone) 67
Charleston Battery Goos (Karalexis) 81
Atlanta Silverbacks Dawkins 88
Player Ratings:
Charleston Battery
Chris Doyle 6; Jason Kutney 5, Alan Woods 6 [YC], Tim Karalexis 6, Ben Hollingsworth 5 (Alon Lubezky 80 4.5); Josh Smith 5.5 (Chris Goos 77 6.5) Kevin Jackson 5.5, Justin Evans 5.5, Andres Perez 5.5, Jesus Martinez 5 (Thabiso Khumalo 68 7), Greg Simmonds 5
Players Not Used - Michael Behonick, Drew Cavanagh, Kelvin Jones, Chris Riley
Atlanta Silverbacks
Christian Fegler 6.5; Landy Mattison 5.5, David Hayes 5, Tony McManus 5.5 (Joe Afful 63 5), Ron Plute 5.5; Sergio Iniguez 6, Antonio Delatorre 6, Alex Chacon 6 (Ivo Ilarianov 89 NR), Andres Murriagui 5.5 [YC] (Kris Stone 58 6.5), Fabian Dawkins 7.5, Rodrigo Rios 6 (Greg Chevalier 89 NR)
Battery Man of the Match: Thabiso "Boyzzz" Khumalo
Silverbacks Man of the Match: Fabian Dawkins
