Saturday’s rematch in Atlanta at Silverbacks Park lived up to all the hype. For the 20 or so Asheville City fans that made the trip, they were treated to what was easily the Blues’ biggest win of the year.

Postgame, the team poses with its fans. (Photo courtesy of Asheville City SC)

I have to admit: I was just the slightest bit nervous. Our South Slope Blues group was warned to avoid parking at the stadium if at all possible because the home fans sometimes cause damage to visiting cars…? That certainly seems a bit excessive, but after last Saturday’s match at Memorial Stadium it seemed plausible.

For the most part though, the Atlanta fans were more than welcoming. And even their goal keeper coach, Anthony Tokpah, came over and shook our hands and thanked us for making the trip. Extremely classy guy.

There were a couple of outliers, though. Case in point: during team introductions, the Silverbacks’ supporters, sitting directly across the field from ourselves, went about setting off their standard red smoke. Blue smoke arose from our section (“Do not pull up.”) simultaneously. And then, in a move that took only a slightly higher level of intelligence than an actual silverback gorilla, a couple of Atlanta supporters walked behind the Blues crew and set off 3 red smoke flares, throwing them into the small mass of people. Naturally, with all of the red smoke hindering visibility, they were not all especially easy to find.

Fortunately, this was the only issue. And to the stadium’s credit, the police officer on duty chased the offenders down and eventually walked one of them right by us in handcuffs. Maybe that was ultimately a proactive decision to show that, “We are not going to promote that behavior here.” Regardless of motive, the point was taken, and smoke was no longer allowed for the remainder of the match.

Christian Szalay runs down a ball in front of the home support. (Photo Credit: Alex Hamilton)

Atlanta was scheduled to travel to Birmingham on Thursday night, which would have created a more drained home team, but that was postponed due to weather, and all legs on both sides were fresh. In the end, it’s very reassuring that the Blues topped a team that was as fresh as possible and in their own stadium.

The boys on both sides picked up right where they left off a week ago. Level of play is clearly increasing from everyone as the season nears its end and as chemistry is ironed out. Parker Siegfried played exceptionally well, keeping Asheville in the game with several fantastic saves. However, Atlanta won the possession battle in the first half… with results to show from it.

Parker Siegfried makes the save on a beautiful shot from Keka. (Photo Credit: Alex Hamilton)

In the 26th minute, Keka took a pass and made a run down the left side of the field, gaining a step on Kenny Anderson and taking it all the way to the goal line before sending a ball on the ground across the front of the goal. It went through 4 or 5 crashing Asheville defenders before reaching Dionysius (“DZ”) Harmon who one-touched it toward net. Parker got down and got a hand on it, and then it was cleared out of bounds. Unfortunately, the ball had already crossed the line.

Atlanta took the lead 1–0, and would hold it until the half.

In fact, they would hold it much longer than that. Asheville City sustained a high level of pressure with a few chances worth mentioning: a free kick that sailed high from about 25 yards out by Tom Deeley, and then a nice opportunity on a header off of a corner from Izaiah Vignali that forced a good save by Silverbacks keeper, Thomas Hunter.

Izaiah Vignali (#28) almost scored in his first few seconds after subbing in (photo credit: Alex Hamilton)

The moment the Blues were waiting for didn’t come until the 84th minute when Elma N’For started a break down the middle of the pitch. He sent one out wide to Christian Szalay who was sprinting open to his left. The pass was a little ambitious and Szalay had to run it down instead of accepting it in stride. But, after settling it he looked up and found a few Blues hanging in the box. A beautiful cross found the foot of Tom Deeley who took a chip-like touch back over the keeper to tie the game at 1.

With the momentum now on the backs of the visiting team, 3 points seemed entirely possible to steal down the stretch. And then, just three minutes later in the 87th minute, N’For unsuccessfully gave a piggy back ride to an Atlanta defender, resulting in a PK. Elma himself would step up and drill it to give Asheville their first lead of the game with only 5 minutes to play.

The final whistle blew, and Asheville had earned an enormous 2–1 win over then division-leading Atlanta, while also keeping their hopes of home field advantage in the playoffs alive.

Unfortunately, Asheville only has two matches left and both the Silverbacks and the Force each have three. Playoffs are pretty much a guarantee, though not mathematically clinched, but home field is kind of a long shot at this point. If the season were to end today, Asheville City would be forced to travel back to Atlanta. It would be terribly hard to win there again… but definitely doable.

I am so glad we have developed a good rivalry in our first year. And personally, I find it even sweeter that it’s with Atlanta. Between the Falcons, Georgia Tech, and an inevitable future rivalry incubating until one of the North Carolina cities gets an MLS team and can face Atlanta United, I have found a deep-seeded hatred for that city’s sports organizations. Wins against that city do not become tiresome.

Asheville only has two more home games and then playoffs to follow. (This season has just flown by.) The South Slope Blues need to show up strong in these last two and maybe we can secure a bonus home game in the playoffs.

The next match is this Saturday at 7:30pm. It being a Saturday, there will most assuredly be pregame frolicking around the South Slope section of downtown. #COYB!

The boys are firing on all pistons right now. Let’s get out there and show our love and support for them and help them #DefendMemorial. And as always, let’s #PTCB!