Tampa Bay Rowdies Assistant Coach Stuart Campbell is in his fourth year with the club, his second as a member of the technical staff, and during that time he’s witnessed terrific highs and some drastic lows.

Campbell quickly established himself as a leader in his first year in 2012 when the Rowdies captured their first Soccer Bowl of the modern NASL era. His first run out as an assistant coach last year, though, ended with a seventh place finish in the combined points table and a defense that conceded 50 goals, easily one of the worst years in the reincarnated club’s short history.

However, Campbell believes the club’s current situation is “night and day” compared to past years after serious investment in player resources and infrastructure from owner Bill Edwards.

The investment is paying off in Campbell’s opinion. The Rowdies are halfway through the short Spring season and sit alone in second place, only three points back of the league-leading New York Cosmos. The club’s strong position is a welcome sight for Campbell considering all the uncertainty that comes with the type of massive turnover the club endured this offseason.

“We’re happy to be where we are, we’re nicely placed for the remaining five games of this part of the season. When you bring in as many players as we have, it’s not easy for them to jell, or hit the ground running if you like. We’ve done that,” said Campbell. “They’re still learning, we’re still learning from each other, and getting to know each other. So to be honest, overall, we’re very happy. We’re nicely placed with five games to go. It’s almost like a mini-mini-season, but overall we’re happy and confident with the squad that we have.”

The Rowdies are in a decent spot at the moment, but the road to a Spring title is still within the grasp of many teams. So far, the competition has been close in this “sprint” of a season. 11 matches have ended in draws and only four points separate the Rowdies and 9th place Ottawa Fury FC, who the Rowdies face on the road this Saturday afternoon. Ottawa hasn’t gotten a lot of positive results in league play this year, but usually find a way to stay competitive in matches.

“Obviously I’ve watched all of [Ottawa’s] games this season, they’ve been unfortunate to not win more games than they have. They’re a big, physical team that can also play a bit. They also play on turf. That’s an advantage for them at home. So it’s going to be a tough game for us,” said Campbell.

The team will definitely need to adjust better to the artificial turf than they did to the Cosmos home turf in their only loss of the year so far. No word yet on whether Maicon Santos will be available to contribute on the Ottawa trip after the forward exited last week’s draw in Carolina with an injury.

One player that won’t be on the field for sure is midfielder Georgi Hristov after the debilitating red card last week when the Rowdies were pushing for the full three points. The suspension is a certainly a blow, as Hristov is currently tied for most assists in the league (3), but it’s an obstacle that Campbell thinks the squad can overcome.

“Obviously we’re going to miss Georgi. He’s a good player. He’s been performing well for us this season. He’s had a couple of assists for us, but this now opens the door for someone else to come in and do well. We’re a decent squad. I see it day in and day out, the way the players apply themselves, everybody comes in and gives 100 percent, which as a coach, is all you can ask for. It’s unfortunate for Georgi that he misses a game, but it’s a very good opportunity for someone to come in and stake their claim after being on the sides,” said Campbell.

A key to guaranteeing more consistent results will be how the Rowdies improve at the outset of matches. The squad got off to some sluggish starts against Minnesota, New York, and Jacksonville before eventually finding their footing. It’s an issue that Campbell says they’re aware of and have already taken steps to improve upon.

“Yeah, it’s something that we’re going to address. We’ve sort of tweaked the pregame warm up, we tweaked what we did the day before, and I think actually in Carolina we started the game pretty well, until unfortunately they scored, which put us back on our heels. But the previous starts in games we didn’t start as quickly or as positively as we would have liked. We’ll look to address that on Saturday and in as many games as possible going forward. We’ll be looking to start the games well and take the game to our opponents,” said Campbell.

IMAGE, TAMPA BAY ROWDIES