FC Cincinnati settles for draw with Tampa Bay

FC Cincinnati settled for a draw Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, but coach Alan Koch couldn’t be too disappointed in the point gained in the standings.

The Orange and Blue gave up an early goal but had an answer later in the first half and held on for a 1-1 tie in the team’s second straight game at Nippert Stadium against a top 4 opponent in the United Soccer League’s Eastern Conference.

FCC (2-2-1) overcame playing a man down for the final 15-plus minutes after forward Kadeem Dacres was sent off in the 75th minute after a high kick took down Rowdies midfielder Darwin Jones. It was one of five cards issued for the game in a physical battle in front of 15,227 fans. Tampa is now 3-1-1.

“They obviously scored a world-class goal to start the game,” Koch said. “We addressed it at halftime, we weren’t happy with how we started the game, … but we adjusted and got a great goal by Harrison (Delbridge). I truly believe in the second half until the red card, we were starting to go with them, creating opportunities and really go with them.

“In the context of the 90 minutes, we’ll take the one point.”

Coming off its best performance of the year, the FCC defense was a little slow to start the game.

One bad FC Cincinnati giveaway led to Marcel Schafer’s curling strike past Mitch Hildebrandt from about 30 yards out, as Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.

“It was a good strike, a good hit,” Hildebrandt. “I wasn’t surprised or anything. I saw him, I was set and moved my feet well and got a good jump on it. It was just a good goal. I was a little shocked because it was so early in the game.”

It wasn't until about 25 minutes in that the defense started making plays, but as the back line began getting stops and better clears, the momentum shifted for the offense, too. The buildup eventually culminated in Delbridge's header off Kenney Walker's corner kick to tie the game at 1-1 in the 36th minute.

With the goal, Delbridge, a center back, became the first FC Cincinnati player other than Djiby Fall to score this season. Fall had the first six, including a four-goal performance Saturday for a 4-0 win over St. Louis FC.

FC Cincinnati ended up with possession advantage the first half, but not surprisingly was left chasing for two-thirds of the second half, partly because of the red card to Dacres. FCC still outshot Tampa 10-7 for the game, as Rowdies keeper finished with two saves and Hildebrandt had one – batting away a shot moments after the red card.

“I’m happy with the group to step up and battle to get the point to end the game,” Delbridge said. “A lot of guys responded. A slow start, sometimes a goal (given up) sort of wakes you up when you haven’t started on the front foot.”

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