DETROIT, MI (July 6, 2024) – The Tampa Bay Rowdies rescued a point late against Detroit City FC on Saturday night at Keyworth Stadium. Wingback Nick Moon nabbed his first goal of the season deep into second half added time, securing a 1-1 result for the Green & Gold to close out their three-match road trip.
“We want to come here and win, but it’s obviously a difficult place to do that.. a number of teams have found it difficult over the years,” said Rowdies Head Coach Robbie Neilson. “I actually thought we played really well… the players showed brilliant resilience to keep fighting for the team, going forward and eventually getting the equalizer.”
Tampa Bay confined Detroit to their own defensive end for most of the first half with an aggressive high press. Forward Manuel Arteaga looked to grab the go-ahead goal for the Rowdies twice in the first 45. In the 30th minute, Joshua Perez stripped the ball off of Detroit near the halfway line, allowing teammate Danny Crisostomo to take possession before sliding a pass through the defensive line for Arteaga in the box. Arteaga fired his attempt on frame, but keeper Nate Steinwascher rushed off his line to cut the angle and deny the chance.
Arteaga took aim at the goal again in the 44th minute, rifling a rebound from outside the box that sailed only a couple feet above the crossbar.
The Rowdies continued knocking on the door for a goal early in the second half. Two minutes into the half, wingback Eddie Munjoma sent in a cross from the left flank that forward Cal Jennings one-timed a shot just wide of the target. In the 50th minute, Perez lofted a corner kick delivery to the back post for Arteaga, who sent a header back across the goal that clipped the top corner of the goal.
Detroit was reduced to ten men at the hour mark when Abdoulaye Diop picked up his second yellow card of the night for an off-the-ball foul on Rowdies midfielder Lewis Hilton.
Despite going down a man, the hosts broke the scoring open off of a set piece in the 71st minute. A free kick sent from the right wing was headed into the box by Devon Amoo-Mensah. Rowdies keeper Jordan Farr and defender Freddy Kleemann rushed to the ball but were beaten to it by substitute Elvis Amoh, who headed it up and into the goal.
Moon nearly leveled the match moments after entering off the bench. Hilton delivered a free kick to the near post that was headed across goal by Cal Jennings, setting Moon up for a shot that clanged off the post. Damian Rivera collected the rebound outside the box and rocketed it right back on goal, but Steinwasher tipped it into the crossbar and out of danger.
The Rowdies found their equalizer in the fourth minute of second half added time. Playing a short corner kick, the Rowdies circulated the ball to Charlie Dennis at the top of the box and the Englishman’s shot was deflected by a defender onto goal. Setinwashcer made the save, Moon was right there to clean up with a stabbing strike into the back of the net.
“I was just happy to get on the field and help the team out,” said Moon. “It’s obviously been a little struggle here getting healthy and back in the lineup, and just getting minutes. I saw the first one go off the post, that one kind of hurt me, but just finishing the equalizer was great.”
Tampa Bay returns home next Saturday, July 13 to host Orange County SC, their first match at Al Lang Stadium in nearly a full month.
“It’s been a tough road trip,” said Neilson. “You’re on three turf pitches, three very difficult ones to play on. They’re all quite similar, they’re all quite tight, the bounce is everywhere. We actually spoke in the dressing room about going back to Al Lang again and actually enjoying playing again, because I don’t think we’ve enjoyed playing on these surfaces. It’s been more about grinding results.”
Scoring Summary
DET – Amoh (Amoo-Mensah), 71’
TBR – Moon, 90+4’
Cation Summary
DET – Murphy, Yellow Card, 41’
DET – Diop, Yellow Card, 41’
TBR – Arteaga, Yellow Card, 45+4’
TBR – Kleemann, Yellow Card, 51’
DET – Diop, Second Yellow Card, Red Card Ejection, 59’
DET – Rodriguez, Yellow Card, 75’
Lineups
Rowdies: Farr, Doherty, Kleemann, Guillen, Niyongabire, Crisostomo (Dennis, 79’), Hilton, Perez (Rivera, 74’), Munjoma (Moon, 74’), Jennings, Arteaga
Rowdies Bench: Breno, Bubb, Moon, Worth, Dennis, Rivera, Ortiz
Detroit: Steinwascher, Bryant, Carroll, Amoo-Mensah, Villanueva, Murphy, Williams (Sheldon, 67’), Williams, Rodriguez (Ruiz, 82’), Diop. Morris (Amoh, 67’)
Detroit Bench: Sheldon, Amoh, Rutz, Saldana, Salim, Levis, Bezerra
