by JAKE NUTTING

Leaning on an early goal from Georgi Hristov and some clutch goalkeeping from Matt Pickens, the Tampa Bay Rowdies managed to secure a 1-0 result over USL side FC Cincinnati and advance past their first match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the first time since 2013.

The Rowdies now move on to the fourth round of the competition, where they will face off with Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew SC in Columbus on June 15.

“I’m delighted to be in the next round of the U.S. Open Cup,” said Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell. “From a selfish, personal standpoint, I love cup competitions. I had some success in them back in England, but I’ve had zero success with them over here as a player and as an assistant coach. Now as a head coach, I wanted to go out and win. It’s a completely different animal, playing in the cup.”

Hristov gave Campbell and the weeknight crowd of 3,455 at Al Lang Stadium cause to celebrate only 11 minutes into the match. Playing in his second straight match up top, the Bulgarian timed his run perfectly to slip by Cincinnati’s back line and get on the end of an outstanding long ball into the final third from Neil Collins. Hristov advanced into the box, caught an oncoming defender out of the corner of his eye, cut back inside and fired a shot into the back of the net.

The tally is the earliest the Rowdies have scored in a match this year and is also the first goal scored in the run of play by Hristov, who had only gotten on the board from a penalty earlier in the spring.

Despite falling behind early, Cincinnati looked unphased and even ended up outshooting the Rowdies 14-7 on the night. However, thanks to some smart positioning and timely blocks from the Rowdies defense, the visitors were only able to wrangle two of those shots on frame.

Pickens first answered the call before his team even had a lead. Forward Sean Okoli attempted a hopeful flick over his head to the top of the box that Kenny Walker one-timed onto net with a booming shot in the 8th minute. Pickens read the play well, though, diving to his left to block the shot before Collins came in to clear it from danger.

Tampa Bay’s netminder was challenged again within the first five minutes of the second half. Finding the back line tough to crack, Ross Tomaselli tried his luck with a shot from 30 yards out that clipped the foot of captain Tamika Mkandawire and abruptly redirected to the left post. Pickens caught the switch in direction in time and dove to his left to knock the ball out for a corner.

The 66th minute is when Pickens truly came up big for his team. Taking a play out of Tampa Bay’s book, Cincinnati played a long ball over the top for Corben Bone to sprint toward. Pickens saw the play coming and raced outside of his area to kick the ball away a split second before Bone arrived.

“In these little tournaments, we’re going to have to make a save here and there and absorb some pressure here and there,” Pickens said. “We held onto a 1-0 lead. We would’ve liked it to be two or three, but we’ve got a good defensive team. In my eyes, it’s a good thing to score 10 minutes into a game and defend them off for 80 minutes. Well done to the guys.”

Hristov looked poised to threaten for a second goal two minutes after Pickens’ big moment, but he was clipped down just past the halfway line by Walker to thwart the breakaway opportunity. If not for Walker’s reckless tackle from behind, Hristov would have likely had yards of space to rush into a one-on-one with the keeper.

The Rowdies have two matches to close out the NASL Spring Season before they can fully shift all of their focus on their match up with Columbus two weeks from now.