ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Bethlehem Steel FC couldn't be separated on Saturday night with Tampa Bay just missing a chance to clinch a USL Cup Playoffs place in a 1-1 draw at Al Lang Stadium. The opening goal silenced the crowd in the 56th minute when Seku Conneh got on the end of a ball forward, whipping a shot from the top of the penalty area across the face of goal and into the left corner of the net. With 10 minutes to play some poor defending allowed Sebastian Guenzatti to score his first goal for the Rowdies after the midfielder controlled well and shot across Steel FC goalkeeper Jake McGuire from the right side of the penalty area and in to the back of the net. Both teams perhaps should have opened the scoring in the first 20 minutes with Bethlehem's Yosef Samuel sending a shot from a through ball into the side netting before Tampa Bay's Martin Paterson sent his shot well over the bar just moments later. After taking the lead the Bethlehem defense was strong, but just not quite strong enough as Steel FC failed to hold on for the win.

Scoring:

56’ – BST – Seku Conneh (James Chambers)

80’ – TBR – Sebastian Guenzatti (Darnell King)

Three Things That Matter:

1. For the second time this week Bethlehem Steel FC stopped the Tampa Bay Rowdies from clinching their place in the USL Cup Playoffs. Despite that the Rowdies continued their strong home run, managing an 11th consecutive match at Al Lang Stadium without a loss, ahead of closing out their home slate in a tough match against New York Red Bulls II on Wednesday.

2. Steel FC has been on an impressive run in recent weeks, surging into the USL Cup Playoffs places as Saturday's results saw their undefeated streak reach five matches. By getting a point out of this match, Bethlehem now needs nine points to seal its place in the playoffs.

3. The two teams struggled to get shots on target in the match, reflecting the strong defensive effort from both teams in the match. With neither side wanting to give up a goal in a crucial match for USL Cup Playoffs seeding, the sides defended resolutely, restricting the match to just four shots on target, with the Rowdies leading that statistic 3-1.

USLSoccer.com Man of the Match

Seku Conneh, Bethlehem Steel FC – Conneh scored the first goal of the match with a well taken finish across his body and the face of goal capping a strong performance from the Bethlehem forward. Conneh managed four shots on goal in the match, getting his goal with his best strike of the night.