I finally made it out to Durham to watch Tobacco Road FC play a match in person. The game was a high-scoring physical battle for the whole 90 minutes, and I met many of the supporters from Bright Leaf Battalion, making the trip well worth the effort.

The action started right away in the 4th minute when NCFC had some miscommunication that led to sloppy play. Speedy Joaquin Del Rosario took advantage of that and stole the ball away to set up a nice assist to Alex Winn. I was just able to find my seat and crack open my program before the goal. TRFC on top, 1–0.

With 16 minutes left in the first half, Teddy Mullin got a nice pass from a cross and was able to slice and dice his way through the NCFC defense, but he wasn't able to finish when he was deep in the box. There were several more great opportunities deep in the box for Tobacco Road but NCFC was able to hold their ground. The halftime whistle came with a 1–0 scoreline.

Halftime was pretty interesting because Batala Durham was at this game playing the drums and keeping the crowd into it.

The second half is when the real action started. Several fouls were called, a few handball calls that were clearly seen from high up in the stands weren't called, and the classic push and shove resulted… with plenty of goals too.

With 31 minutes left to play in the second half, Champe Mendoza sent a bullet of a ball right towards the middle of the goal but Ignacio Miras Blanco of NCFC making a impressive save. In the 65th minute, NCFC couldn't convert a corner kick, and on the counter after a nice pass, Jonathan Ray was able to beat two defenders and find Eli Garner who was able to juke the keeper and put it in the back of the net. 2–0.

Eli Garner pointing to the fans after his goal. (Photo Credit: Matt Feltz)

Soon after, Mendoza, Winn, and Ray all worked together after a crap missed hand ball call, still able to move forward and almost slipping one into the goal. If the right call was made, I’m sure that the boys would have been able to score another.

Just 12 minutes later though in the 77th minute, Alex Winn ran deep into the left side of the box and sent a nice cross to Mendoza who was able to send the ball into the right side of the net to put Tobacco Road up 3–0.

Champe, right after he threw up the Bull City Horns (Photo Credit: Matt Feltz)

There was some miscommunication from Tobacco Road in the 87th minute: NCFC was trying to attack fast and were able to steal a ball away from a sloppy pass and score. There was a foul committed but no call was made. Not the best night officiating out on the pitch. But that was the final score, 3–1, and Los Toros took all three points.

Man Of The Match

Jonathan Ray

Jon had one score and one assist with four shots on goal that led the way for Tobacco Road FC. Watching the game, he had several missiles on net, but the goalkeeper was just quick enough to stop him from scoring two or three on the night.