The Charleston Battery loss to the Puerto Rico Islanders on a 76 min goal by Puerto Rico Islander forward Matt Bouraee.
Around 500 to 600 fans enjoyed a chance to watch the reigning Division 3 champions the Battery take on the Division 2 champions, the Puerto Rico Islanders.
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| Seedy Bah |
The match started lively enough for the Islanders and they controlled possession for most the opening 10 minutes. Puerto Rico Captain Delgado came off in the 15 minute limping and was replaced by the eventual goal score Bouraee.
The Battery adjusted and started to find is groove, looking pretty dangerous in the middle of the field with Battery Captain Stephen Armstrong looking very sharp on the left side. Armstrong created several nice moves on the sideline and crossed quite a few nice looking balls into the box.
Levi Coleman went down in about the 30 min with a finger to the eye and was replaced by youngster Seedy Bah.
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| Osei Telesford |
The final 10 minutes of the half the Battery limited the Islanders to their half for the most part. Several decent chances came the first a freekick that went just over the bar. the second a couple minutes later when Armstrong made a fine cross for Kelly he just couldnt connect with. In the last minute the Battery had two more quality chances with a blast just outside the box from Cole Peverley and another one in the 45' form Dane Kelly.
In the second half the Battery immediately stepped right back into their rhythm with Armstong again making a strong cross to Kelly.
Puerto Rico finally had a quality chance on goal in the 54 minute but #9 Fana's shot when high over the bar.
The Battery thought they had scored in the 59' from a nice build up and cross from the right side but the linesman's flag was up for offside.
Islander goalie Burse stopped a 20 yard rocket of a shot from Seedy Bah in the 62' to keep things level
In the 65' both teams began to make wholesale changes with the seven subs coming in at once, two for the Islanders and 5 for the Battery.
After the change the Battery seemed to be on the back foot and the Islanders stepped up their attack. In the 76' first half substitute Matt Bouraee scored after what looked like a rare bit of confusion in the Battery defense.
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| Nicki Patterson |
The Islanders had another good chance in the 81' but Second half substitute, Keith Wiggins saved the shot.
The Battery seemed to regain the composure quickly while the Islanders looked happy just to defend the lead.
Brandon Massie made a great run down the right side and beat his marker, made a great cross that a diving JC Mack just missed. In the dying minutes of the game, the Battery nearly got the equalizer when College of Charleston product, Sean Flatley, beat his man in the air and nearly headed a cross in to tie the match up.
The match ended 1-0 and over all it looked like a pretty even match, with the Battery having quite a few scoring chances and controlling the midfield for a large portion of the match but the Islanders scoring the goal and that the only statistic that matters in the end.
Overall the Battery looked sharp and ready to go for the Saturday.
The Islanders seemed to have to make a few adjustments to their back line as Needham seems to yell at his defenders a lot and Clark was constantly telling Martinez he need to be faster and telling him to adjust his positioning, but did a good job keeping up with speedy Dane Kelly and Seedy Bah.
Adderly up top was quite for most the match but Fana who seemed to play behind Adderly was very lively. He tracked back onto defense when needed and was quick put the Battery under pressure. Burse made a couple good saves that kept the Battery off the score sheet. Emory caused some problems for guys coming down the wings.
Here is the starting line up along with a list of the players that were subbed in. I lost track who came in for who but I think you see a similar line up starting on Saturday.
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| Mike Zaher takes on goal scorer Matt Bouraee |
Battery: Dykstra (GK), Zaher, Wilson, Dugoni, Marples, (D) Armstrong, Jackson, Peverley, Prince (M) Kelly, Coleman (F) Subs: Bah, Wiggins(GK), Patterson, Wiltse, Flatley, Caskey, Mack, Evans, Rittmeyer.
Islanders: Burse (GK) Jones, Emory, Martinez, Needham (D) Delgado, Telesford, Hanson, Ptichkolan, (M) Adderly, Fana (F) Subs: Bouraee, Laurendi (GK) Ly, #19, #16, #28 #25 (sorry could get their names)
For more photos of the match, see Kim Gregory's album here
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