Nashville SC U23's PDL skid continues with 3-2 loss to Peachtree City MOBA


After roaring back from a 2-0 deficit, Nashville SC U23 conceded a late goal down to 10 men, and a 3-2 loss seemed certain. Approaching the end of stoppage time, Nashville centerback Kyle McLagan won a penalty at the end of a long forward run, but Fletcher Ekern's kick from the spot bounced off the crossbar, sealing NSC's first home defeat of the season as Peachtree City earned its first win of any kind in PDL play.

Ouch.

The result is a tough one for Nashville, who just dropped nine of 15 possible points on a grueling five-game PDL road trip. The Boys In Gold remain second in the South Atlantic Division standings, but both Charlotte Eagles (who lead NSC by a point) and Myrtle Beach Mutiny (who trail by one point) have two games in hand. In the blink of an eye, Nashville have gone from having a comfortable lead at the top of the table to desperately needing to string some wins together in order to qualify for the Eastern Conference championship.

Now, onto the game itself. These two teams hate each other, and their mutual animosity has really affected the flow of their past two meetings. I lost track of how many yellow cards were given out on Wednesday night, but whatever the final number was, the official probably should have given out more. There were dirty challenges on both sides all night long, and a rather extreme amount of simulation by MOBA players, particularly by No. 8, who was removed from play three times and immediately returned to the pitch after briefly stepping off, as required by the rules, on each occasion. The one player who got sent off, Nashville right back Joseph Kerridge, probably had the least egregious accumulation of offenses of any player to make it into the referee's book.

So when these two groups of players are on the field together, it's going to be an ugly game, but even allowing for that, this was a discouraging performance from Nashville, who experimented with two new starters to mixed results and had subpar games from players they've come to rely on.

MOBA's first goal of the game began with an iffy decision from Nashville goalkeeper William Pyle followed by some sloppy play by defensive midfielder Tanner Dietrich. Pyle threw out a dangerous ball across the middle to Dietrich, who still probably should have handled the ball better than he did. Dietrich lost possession and fouled the Peachtree City player who recovered it, just outside of the penalty area. The shot hit the crossbar, but Tedd Fidler was there to finish it off with a header into the back of the net.

The second goal came in such quick order (22nd minute, 27th minute) that I was still tweeting about the first goal, so I missed what happened. But I do know it came from a shot on the left side of of Nashville's defense, and it was Tedd Fidler getting a brace for MOBA.

Despite the scoreline, attacking midfielder Martim Galvao was having another excellent game for Nashville, and he pulled one back for the home team in the 31st minute.
The second Nashville goal came in the 61st minute, in a passage of play that went from the NSC backline to the back of the Peachtree City net in about 10 seconds. A Nashville center back (either Emerson or McLagan, I didn't catch which) served a gorgeous diagonal ball to Logan Paynter on the right wing. Paynter then fired a low cross into Fletcher Ekern, who had recently subbed on for Blake Wilson, and the striker tapped it into the net to bring the Boys In Gold level.
The next turning point in the match came in the 78th minute when Kerridge was sent off for his second yellow. On the ensuing free kick, MOBA headed the ball into the back of the net for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

Stray observations

Shak Adams had a really rough day. Starting the game on the right week, he was constantly turning the ball over and struggled defensively, making life difficult for PDL debutant Joseph Kerridge. After the second MOBA goal, Paynter and Adams switched sides, and that was a big improvement. Kerridge seemed a step or two off the pace in the first half, but turned in a solid shift in the second half, prior to being sent off. Damilola Omitaoumu came on for Adams to start the second half was an improvement, but not much of one.

Tanner Dietrich might have had his worst performance in a Nashville shirt on Wednesday night. His touches uncharacteristically sloppy, his decisions were often poor or too slow, and he just seemed generally off. Not too worried about him going forward, but this was a bad day at the office.

Fletcher Ekern needs to play more. In 10 matches, Blake Wilson has scored fewer than half a goal per 90 minutes, and Nashville have struggled all season to score from open play. Something needs to change. Ekern is bigger than Wilson and not as mobile, so he's not a perfect fit for the fluid, free-roaming attacking band that Nashville like to employ. But with two goals against Memphis City on Saturday and another one on Wednesday off the bench, Ekern might be able to finish off through balls from Martim Galvao and crosses from Logan Paynter in a way that Blake Wilson hasn't been able to do so far.

Getting to see Carlos Hurtado work up close during the second half was a treat. That dude is really solid.

Up next

Nashville face Derby City Rovers (1-6-1) at Vanderbilt Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.

Comments

Post a Comment