The Charlotte Independence kicked off an extremely busy week on Sunday night when they faced the second place Tampa Bay Rowdies for the final game at Winthrop’s Eagle field down in Rock Hill, South Carolina. They put together one of their best performances this season too, but only came away with a single point, finishing in a 2–2 draw.

A strong(ish) start

The Charlotte Independence found themselves trailing after the 24th minute despite having a very strong start. They had three shots, two on target and looked far more likely to take the lead when Henry Kalungi went to ground for a tackle in the box resulting in a penalty to the Rowdies. It might have been a bit soft for some, but there’s no reason Kalungi should go in for that tackle in that situation: he was in good position to block any cross or shot and the Rowdies player was taking the ball towards the end line. It was a mistake and we got punished for it as Georgi Hristov converted the penalty kick.

Bouncing Back

Lewis Hilton came the closest to tying it up in the first half when he rattled a shot off the post that the entire stadium thought was heading for the corner of the net.

Ben Goshorn’s preview spotlighted Alex Martinez and the midfielder nearly made Ben look like a genius with two near misses for the equalizer just before the halftime whistle. Charlotte had the bulk of the first half possession, shots and the better quality chances overall, but it felt like it might be “one of those nights” for the Jacks, where they just wouldn’t find the goal-scoring touch.

Breaking through

Charlotte threatened to score almost immediately off the halftime kick with two free kicks taken by Jorge Herrera in dangerous territory. The breakthrough finally came just six minutes into the second half. In the 51st minute, Charlotte’s two loanee fullbacks linked up: Donnie Smith put in a wonderful ball on a corner kick finding Dennis Castillo at the back post all alone for his first goal for the Independence, also his first as a professional.

Dennis decided that he likes scoring goals and followed that up with another one, just 5 minutes later, and it felt like the Independence were in full control and might be able to put one or two more past the Rowdies.

Charlotte started to push for a third goal, but then coach Jeffries brought on Callum Ross for Lewis Hilton in the 71st minute to provide a bit more defensive presence in the midfield. Tampa Bay was trying to weather the storm by getting nine or ten men behind the ball and springing counter attacks when the ball turned over. This proved to be a good strategy in the end, as the Rowdies put together a quick counter attack that resulted in the equalizer by substitute Keith Savage in the 83rd minute.

Jaime Siaj came on for just his second appearance in USL play, replacing David Estrada. This was encouraging to me: I’ve been wanting to see more of Siaj and less of Townsend as our forward bench option. However, Siaj wasn’t able to contribute much because Charlotte’s only real threats with him on the field were both ended by close offside calls.

Hanging on

Speaking of close calls, the game ended shortly after a Rowdies corner kick was headed off the post and cleared out. Somehow, the Independence should feel both lucky and unlucky to come away with a point.

My Thoughts: A slightly disappointing draw

I tweeted this after the game, but I think Charlotte will regret not getting all three points from this one. This week is going to be challenging, not only because of the three games but because of the quality of the opponents as well. I know the Rowdies are a really good team sitting in second place, and that this is a good result on paper, but Charlotte played extremely well except for a couple of defensive lapses, and when you play well enough to win against a top team in the East at home… you have to win.

Man of the match

The man of the match has to be Dennis Castillo. He played his best game in an Independence shirt and it came after missing the entire month of May with a knee injury. His loan spell as been up and down mainly due to having to play left back when he is clearly more suited to play right back. Charlotte needed him to step up in place of Joel Johnson, who missed the game due to yellow card accumulation, and he did exactly that with a brace and some key blocks and defensive plays. Atta boy Dennis, sweet tea on me!