by JAKE NUTTING

Heading into Saturday’s encounter with Rayo OKC, the Tampa Bay Rowdies had dropped five of their previous six matches. The poor string of results came at an interesting time, as last weekend was the one-year anniversary of Thomas Rongen and Farrukh Quraishi being dismissed.

So whether or not Rowdies owner Bill Edwards was or wasn’t aware of the coincidence, he sure picked an intriguing moment to show a vote of confidence in this year’s team and head coach Stuart Campbell.

Fresh off his two-goal shift in the win over Rayo OKC, veteran Joe Cole mentioned a meeting Edwards had with the team to express his confidence in the squad despite of the recent skid.

“I felt we played well again tonight,” said Cole. “All credit to the staff, the players, and also Bill the owner. He had a good chat with us during the week. He’s right behind us and the manager and everything we’re doing here. You can see the performances. It was pleasing to get the result to match the performance.”

Adding another bit of intrigue to Saturday’s match was the fact the manager Edwards lost confidence in last year was in the broadcast for beIN Sports (Try to imagine this kind of thing happening in a league more people cared about. The Twitter snark would never end). Understandably, Rongen said he feels the team was in a better position at the same point last year when he was let go, but he also offered praise for many of the moves made by Campbell.

Rongen’s broadcast partner suggested Campbell’s job could be on the line given the recent results. That’s not an absurd notion, although it does ignore the quality performances of the team in those losing efforts. The team has rarely looked lost, and has in fact created plenty of scoring chances in recent weeks only to be let down by their finishing.

“I’m not stupid. I know it’s a results based business, but every man and his dog can see that our performance levels have been very good,” said Campbell on Saturday night. “The effort, the application, the attitude of every single player has never been in question so it’s nice to finally get the result the performance deserved.”

On top of the promise the team continues to show, Campbell’s working relationship with Edwards is rumored to be markedly better than the one Rongen had with the owner last year. Coupled together, these two indicators suggest that Campbell’s job might be safe for the time being.

Joe Cole Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Joe Cole’s status as the engine of the Rowdies attack cannot be denied. Despite failing to convert a penalty early in the first half, Cole played like a man determined the lift the Rowdies out of their funk.

His brace last night brings his goal total for the year to seven. The English veteran has played a more advanced role than even he might have expected, but he’s happy to help in any way, as long as the team keeps winning.

“I’m enjoying it,” Cole said of his production. “I’m playing a bit further up the pitch, that’s probably why I’ve scored a lot of goals. I’ve played center mid, left mid, right mid, and I was a winger in my younger days. You can always score goals, but the main thing is the team wins. I’m all about the team.”

Cole’s first goal of the night (off a clever assist from Georgi Hristov) benefited from a deflecting off the foot of a defender, but when the team is struggling to put balls into the back of the net you’ll take a goal any which way you can.

“That’s it. You see the save on Avila in by the keeper and then last week the keeper was brilliant. Sometimes it just one of them, you keep trying to hit the target and a scruffy one will go in off someone and you get going. All of the sudden the confidence builds.”

As for his second, Cole showed a great burst of speed just to get into position for a potential pass or rebound. Defenders, doubt 34-year-old Joe Cole’s wheels at your own peril.

September Awaits

Getting back in the win column is nice, but the team still needs to find consistency as they head into what will be a challenging September. Three of their four matches next month will be played away from Al Lang. Fortunately their meeting with Indy Eleven next weekend will be their only September matchup with a team currently in the top four of the combined standings.

If the Rowdies can get through the next four weeks and find a way to remain relevant in the postseason race, they could benefit from more home advantage in October. The final month of the Fall Season is overloaded with seven matches, but four of them will be played in front of the home supporters, while two of their three road matches are within the state.

Tweet of the week goes to Rowdies supporter Jonathan Arnholz for his perfect summation of Joe Cole’s performance on Saturday.