The first two weekends of November are looking wide open on the calendar of the Tampa Bay Rowdies after the club settled for a scoreless draw with the Atlanta Silverbacks on Saturday night. Tampa Bay’s sixth road draw of the year puts Fort Lauderdale a point ahead in the chase for the final playoff spot. With a game in hand on the Rowdies and a decided lead in goal differential, the Strikers control their playoff destiny.

The Rowdies defensive unit showed up showed up in full force in Atlanta, it was only the attack that prevented the squad from prevailing and staying ahead in the playoff race.

Quality in the final third was lacking from both sides throughout the entire match. Atlanta earned the only quality shot on goal of the night in the 9th minute when Matt Pickens was forced to dive to his left and punch away a Junior Burgos free kick from 23 yards out.

Pickens was sturdy throughout the entire match. He wasn’t called on to make another save after the free kick, but he came of his line several times to parry away dangerous balls into the area. Tamika Mkandawire and Stefan Antonijevic were also resolute in central defense, making well-timed blocks and tackles to keep the Silverbacks from truly threatening.

Unfortunately for the Rowdies, their attack was equally as ineffective when it came to putting shots on frame. Brian Shriver had the two best chances of the night, and even those were more half chances than anything else. Shriver took a hopeful shot from outside the box while falling backwards in 18th minute, but his attempt was deflected and missed the crossbar by a foot.

Shriver provided the only second half threat as well in the 66th minute when a desperate long ball over the top bounced high in between a defender and keeper Steward Ceus. Shriver put himself in between the two Silverbacks, but his flick wasn’t strong enough to best Ceus.

And that’s all there really is to report on the Rowdies attack. The runs by the forwards up top were too simple and the service to them was never good enough. Substitutes Jeff Michaud and Darwin Espinal provided no spark as they could barely get a whiff of the ball after entering late in the second half.

“We were desperate to win the game, but so were Atlanta,” Stuart Campbell said. “As the game went on, they pressed harder and sent more men forward. As a team, our defensive unit was great. But on the other hand, we just didn’t have that necessary final bit of quality to finish anything. It’s frustrating, but we move on and we’ve got a home match on Saturday where we’ll look to keep our decent home form going.”

It’s hard to blame Campbell for trying to remain upbeat about their prospects, but the reality is that the production has been nowhere near good enough since the win over San Antonio on September 19. The Rowdies have averaged only 2 shots on goal in the five matches since.

Campbell and his squad will need to find a way to improve that woeful average in the final two matches. The Rowdies will likely need a full three point result against the Carolina RailHawks at home next week and then the same on the road against the Cosmos in the regular season finale.

Six points to close out the year will not be enough to carry them into the postseason, though. The Rowdies will need to cross their fingers that Fort Lauderdale stumbles in at least two of their final matches against San Antonio, Indy, and Jacksonville.

IMAGE, PATRICK PATTERSON