By JAKE NUTTING

The third time was the charm for the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday at Al Lang Stadium as they closed out their regular season series with the Charleston Battery by securing a thorough 2-0 victory in front of 5,619 fans. They had lost their first two bouts against the Eastern Conference-leading Battery by a combined score of 5-2.

“To be honest, I think we dominated the game,” Rowdies forward Martin Paterson said. “They’re a good team. We respect them because they beat us twice, but we were adamant we were going to win tonight. (Against) good teams like them, you’ve got to put them away when you’ve got the opportunity. We converted two chances tonight, though we also missed a few.”

Charleston came out with early pressure to cause some nervy moments for the Rowdies in the back. Lagos Kunga missed the top left corner of the goal in the 12th minute as the back line afforded him too much space to launch a shot outside the box. Heviel Cordovés attempted to capitalize on a similar opportunity four minutes later, rifling a shot in between two defenders that Matt Pickens stood tall to punch away.

Following his save on Cordovés, Pickens had words with his defenders about the lax marking and they seemed to get the message. Charleston’s chances dried up and the Rowdies began to assert themselves with quality passing sequences, resulting in several threatening opportunities.

At the half hour mark, Joe Cole was left unchecked at the back post after poor clearance by O’Brian Woodbine, but the English veteran rocketed his volley a yard over the crossbar. The Rowdies were back at it two minutes later, though, as Marcel Schäfer whipped in a cross from the left flank that Paterson headed on target, forcing Alex Tambakis into a tremendous diving save. Tambakis came up huge again a couple minutes later to stonewall a powerful volley by Cole in the center of the box.

Tampa Bay’s opening goal was sparked by a perfectly weighted long ball over the top from Kyle Porter. Five minutes before the break, Porter lifted his free kick from just inside the halfway line into the box for Paterson to latch onto. Paterson beat his mark to the ball and wisely held it up until Alex Morrell and Joe Cole ran into the area to offer support. Paterson slipped a pass back to Morrell, who pushed the ball forward toward goal and then centered with his second. The second touch got away from Morrell, but Cole was lurking and pounced on the chance to poke it past Tambakis.

“We’ve been working on getting penetration, and Alex gives us penetration,” Cole said. “I’ve been working with Alex about getting in the right positions to score goals. You run in to the right areas at the right time and the ball drops to you. It’s about composure. I felt I should’ve had a few more tonight. It’s nice to score, but I think at 35 you still want more.”

Charleston controlled possession in the early stages out of the break, but Tampa Bay’s defense absorbed the pressure well. Justin Porillo’s tame shot into the bottom right corner from distance was the only save Pickens had to make in the last 45 minutes.

Georgi Hristov was inches away from extending the lead in the 66th minute. Morrell picked Hritsov out in the center of the box, but the Bulgarian’s volley clattered off the crossbar to stay in play.

With the disappointment of last week’s 1-1 draw in Orlando still lingering, Paterson helped alleviate some of the anxiety in the stands at Al Lang Stadium three minutes after Hristov’s miss with a sensational strike to double the lead. Schäfer bombed down the left wing and sent in a cross for Paterson, who touched the ball into space with his back to goal before turning and burying it into the top right corner for his fifth goal of the year.

Saturday’s three points are a welcome start to Tampa Bay’s three-match homestand. The Rowdies could lift themselves into a better position in the Eastern Conference standings if they can carry the momentum into their upcoming matches against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the Harrisburg City Islanders. At the moment, the Rowdies sit in fourth place with 31 points and 12 matches left on their schedule. The Battery sit four points clear in first place, while the Charlotte Independence and Louisville City are second and third with 32 points each.

“[The homestand] is huge cause we love playing at home, honestly,” Morrell said. “Look at the crowd tonight. It was amazing. It just brings a certain energy. You can’t really explain it. You just play a lot better in front of your home crowd, and that’s what we did tonight. Hopefully we can continue to do that cause that was fun.”