SILVERBACKS FINISH WITH 2-1 WIN OVER TOBACCO ROAD

The Atlanta Silverbacks hosted Tobacco Road FC on a cool Saturday evening. The match ended with the Silverbacks collecting three points, their second win of the season in front of their home crowd at Silverbacks Park. The match ended at 2-1 with all three goals coming in the first half.

Tobacco Road FC came out early playing well with high intensity and high pressure on the Silverbacks. Tobacco Road got on the scoreboard first with a goal in the 13th minute scored by midfielder Joaquin De Rosario off an assist coming from Brendan Duncan. De Rosario settled the pass and slotted it by the Silverbacks goalkeeper at the far post. Before the goal, the Silverbacks looked a bit flat and flustered by Tobacco Road’s good start. The goal is what the Silverbacks needed to wake up and get into the game.

Just minutes later, the Silverbacks equalized from the penalty spot. Joao Johanning Mora received a pass from Pedro Polaz and was 1v1 with the goalkeeper.  He put a skillful move on him to get past and there was nothing the goalkeeper could do but take Mora down in the penalty box. Tobacco Road’s goalkeeper received a yellow card for the tackle and Atlanta was awarded a penalty kick. Mora won the penalty and he was the one to step up and take it. He powered it into the back of the net with the goalkeeper guessing the wrong way in the 20th minute. This gave Atlanta some much-needed confidence.

In the 29th minute, with some good build-up play from the back, Polaz was on the right side and was able to take a defender on and played a brilliant cross into winger Douglas Diwa who quickly settled and blasted it past the keeper with great technique on the shot. The rest of the first half wasn’t very exciting.

The second half began and the Silverbacks continued to form good chances and began to take more control of the game. Although there were not many great chances from either team, the Silverbacks looked to be the stronger team in the second half. Both goalkeepers had solid performances, with Atlanta’s Bryce Billington making a handful of keys saves to hold the one goal lead. Tobacco Road’s midfield was strong and were good at keeping possession and keeping the fluidity of the teams passing across the park. That seemed to be their strongest group on the field.

The Silverbacks were strong defensively; the center back pairing of Georgii Kulov and Ebrima Njie looked great together as they were strong and leading the team from the back. It was a well-played match from both teams, but the Silverbacks looked to be the stronger and earned this hard-fought victory.