Friday, April 15, 2011

Battery hits the road to take on Dayton Dutch Lions

The Charleston Battery will face their first road trip of the 2011 USL Pro season as they travel more than 670 miles to Ohio to take on the Dayton Dutch Lions.

Even though the Battery won their home opener against the Charlotte Eagles, they will be looking to improve there overall form in the match against the Dutch Lions.

Overall I expect a similar starting line up to the first match with maybe a couple switches.  Colin Falvey should available after serving his suspension for the red card received in the championship match.  Falvey will only improve the back line that looked solid against the Eagles. 

In the center of the field Nicki Paterson did well coming off the bench and put a spark into the offensive.  Auggie may choose to bring him on a sub again but I would like to see him from the start.

Up top I think Coleman and Kelly get the starts, but Kelly was slow coming off the pitch and not sure if he may have picked up a knock or not.  Bah appears to be the swap for Kelly but I would like to see JC Mack come in late as well.  There speed could cause problems for a team that maybe tiring late in the match.

This will be Dayton Dutch Lions first match as a professional club.  Last season, the Dutch Lions plhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2619649367199343318ayed in the USL PDL and turned a few heads with their professionally run program as well as some decent attendances (1250 average last season)

The Dutch Lions will be looking to give their fans a win and make a statement to USL Pro that they want to be contenders.

Dayton has a close relationship with FC Twente in the Netherlands and have several Dutch players on their team.  Unfortunately not a lot is know about the squad with the exception of one player that trialed with Charleston earlier this year; George Davis IV.  Davis is a very quick wing player that likes to take-on players and isn't afraid to shoot from outside the box.  This may cause problems for the Battery who seemed content to let Charlotte bring the ball forward with little pressure and was slow to close players down at the top of the box.

The Battery will have support in the stands there.  The JRROTC unit that volunteers at Blackbaud will be in the area for a drill competition and will be attending the match.  Look for some Battery flags and banners if you watch the match live on www.USLlive.com.  Kick off is at 7:30pm.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I wish this game was on the radio too, since I won't have access to a computer during the game. Andrew has a prior engagemnet, so he's not making the trip.