by JAKE NUTTING

The Tampa Bay Rowdies may not have found their first goal of the 2016 preseason against the Montreal Impact on Saturday night, but they did manage to put in their highest quality shift thus far and earn a scoreless draw to close it the Suncoast Invitational.

Starting XI (4-2-3-1) Matt Pickens – D Darnell King, Justin Chavez, Frankie Sanfilippo, Zac Portillos – M Juan Guerra, Michael Nanchoff; Eric Avila, Kalif Alhassan, Walter Ramirez – F Tommy Heinemann

Head Coach Stuart Campbell tweaked his lineup to a 4-2-3-1 this week and the players on the field responded well, producing their best effort in the midfield in all three matches of the Suncoast Invitational. The latest addition to the squad, Eric Avila, slotted in well right away on the right side of the midfield. He demonstrated excellent situational awareness on the ball and had some tremendous passing combinations with Michal Nanchoff and Kalif Alhassan in the first half.

The entire squad had a much better outing this week in terms of possession. They came with a higher tempo, pressing the Impact all over the field and working off the ball to open up passing lanes.

Nanchoff helped create the best scoring chance of the night for the Rowdies in the 13th minute when he delivered a teasing free kick into the box that center back Justin Chavez rose to meet. Chavez’s header was only denied by a nice tip save from keeper Evan Bush.

The only frustrating part of the night for Tampa Bay was the inability to translate the positive play in the midfield into results in the final third. Forward Tommy Heinemann came with his high work rate again this week, but his touch let him down in a few instances. He squandered a nice counter attack opportunity with support in the box in the 38th minute with a heavy touch that rolled to a defender and then tripped up at the top of the box on another breakaway midway through the second half.

While the Rowdies were left searching for their lethal touch in the final third, the Impact had no problem threatening a handful of times in the closing minutes of the first half. The only thing that kept the MLS side off the board was the heroics of keeper Matt Pickens.

Pickens looked to be in midseason form in denying the Impact on four meaningful chances. Iganacio Piatti was the first to challenge Pickens in the 40th minute with a powerful one-timed blast that the keeper laid out to snuff out. Pickens then easily handled a shot from the top of the box by Didier Drogba a few minutes later.

Piatti was thwarted again by Pickens in the 44th minute when tried to go near post but had his effort knocked away for a corner. Drogba got on the receiving end of the ensuing corner with a deft header, but Pickens stood tall to make the reflex save and keep the shutout intact.

The match remained surprisingly open in the second half but neither side could find a breakthrough in the scoring third. Junior Burgos replaced Walter Ramirez at the halftime break and was far more active, though he never succeeded in connecting on his final pass up top.

Danny Mwanga entered for Heinemann in the 70th minute and had the same struggles finding the back of the net. Mwanga had one clear cut chance in the 87th minute when he found space on the left side of the box, but his shot to the near post was easily parried away by Bush.

Montreal went down to 10 men when midfielder Marco Donadel was shown his second yellow for shoving Zac Portillos (who looked even closer to his old self in the second half). The man advantage gave the Rowdies an uptick in possession but that first goal continued to elude them.

The Rowdies have one more stateside tune up against USF next Saturday before they head to England for their three final scheduled preseason matches.