FC CAROLINA DISCOVERIES SECURE 1-1 DRAW AGAINST TOBACCO ROAD FC

On Friday, May 27th, FC Carolina Discoveries secured a 1-1 draw against Tobacco Road FC in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Discoveries had a difficult start with the first half of the match. An early 12th minute goal by Tobacco Road player Sal Bundu was far from ideal for the team, who won their previous match and were looking for another win.

With things becoming a bit more complicated, Discoveries continued to attack during the first half, but to no avail. Discoveries striker James Galvani tried to score the equalizer during the 18th minute, but saw no success. Discoveries defender Timothy Bailey also tried to even the score near to the end of the 1st half, but Tobacco Road’s goalkeeper moved quickly and efficiently caught the ball.

Tobacco Road also had opportunities to score after their initial goal; during the 20th and 21st minutes, Tobacco Road standouts James Carroll and Evan De Ycaza pushed for another goal with the hope of scoring a two-goal advantage, but failed to score. During the last five minutes of the first half, teammate Joaquin Del Rosario took a corner kick, which also failed to yield results.

“I’m delighted that we got the draw, because we worked hard, but we deserved better out of the game,” commented Discoveries head coach Paul Sheridan when asked about the draw. “I would have thought that we should have won it.”

The second half of the match seemed to have a bit more action, as well as constant pressure by the Discoveries.  It was clear that Discoveries were anxious to score their first goal. Almost 8 minutes into the second half, the Discoveries almost found their equalizer, but the shot was blocked by Tobacco Road goalkeeper Doug Powell. On the other hand, Tobacco Road used the second half to change things up by making some substitutions, but they were unable to secure a second goal.

Towards the end of the second half, it seemed as if the Carolina Discoveries would have to close the match with a loss, but a last-minute goal scored during the 90th minute secured a tie against Tobacco Road and lightened the tension the team was felt against a potential loss.

Sheridan had some ideas about what the team should improve for the next match.

“There are a couple of things that we need to tweak around position-wise.  We were missing a few players tonight through injury, but our work rate was excellent tonight. Compared to the last few games we had a great work rate. We worked all the way, never gave up, and kept going until the last minute. That paid off with the equalizer. I think we fully deserved that, maybe we should have gotten more out of the game, but I have to be happy with a draw at this stage.”

Sheridan continued looking forward, knowing that a long season is ahead and many more games were to be played.

“We’ve got a very strong squad. We have played two games in the last two days, so we will resume training again on Memorial Day. Hopefully we will have a strong squad to pick from. We take each game as it comes.”