The Tampa Bay Rowdies took full control of their playoff destiny on Saturday with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Carolina RailHawks. Apart from the game-winning strike from Richard Menjivar in the 12th minute, the match was far from pretty and the Rowdies had to depend on defensive gumption and a bit of luck to survive.

Tampa Bay surged out of the gate with more energy than they expended in the entirety of last week’s somber draw in Atlanta. Freddy Adu looked infinitely more at home shifting to a central attacking midfield role and he set up many scoring opportunities in the first half.

The collective groan from supporters was likely heard across the bay when Georgi Hristov failed to convert on a surefire chance in the 11th minute. The forward intercepted an errant pass back from a RailHawk and touched the ball past the charging keeper Hunter Gilstrap. As has been the case in recent weeks, though, Hristov looked for the perfect shot instead of just getting the ball on frame. Carolina recovered and the chance was squashed.

The near-capacity crowd at Al Lang did not have to linger on that squandered chance for long. Only a minute later, Hristov pressured a defender into a poor clearance that rolled directly to Menjivar. The midfielder took a few seconds before electing to hit a gorgeous strike with the outside of his boot from the 35 yards out. Gilstrap, perhaps screened by his own defenders, was slow to react to the curler and the ball was already by him before he knew what had happened.

The Rowdies produced a flurry of shots after going up, but Gilstrap recovered from his concession well to come up with a few impressive saves. Hristov was denied the back of the net three times in the match, including one strike in the 43rd minute that forced the keeper to reach behind himself and snag the ball while falling down.

Despite producing seven shots on frame in the first half, the Rowdies failed to maintain possession. The Rowdies gifted the RailHawks several free kicks in dangerous spots outside the penalty area, but the visitors never managed to turn one into a shot on goal. Center backs Tamika Mkandawire and Stefan Antonijevic stood tall while handling any lobs into the box.

In his first start in quite a while, attacker Darwin Espinal came close to doubling the lead in the 51st with a clever volley from just inside the box that missed the frame by less than a foot. Espinal also had a close range effort kick saved by Gilstrap later on in the half.

The second half was anything but comfortable for the Rowdies as Carolina continued to dominate possession. The home side never looked settled when they won the ball and usually seemed to cough it up fairly quickly by trying to do too much.

Luckily for the Rowdies, the RailHawks were unable to produce any quality finishing in the final third. A couple long rage efforts sailed right to Matt Pickens and veteran Nacho Novo skied a handful of promising chances well over the net. Left back Ben Sweat also had a pivotal impact on securing the victory by closing down attackers in the box and blocking a few attempts of his own.

“I’d like to say I was standing there cool, calm and collected, but I wasn’t,” Rowdies Head Coach Stuart Campbell said of the perilous final moments. “It’s nice to be here having won the game in that matter, rather than standing here wondering about the chances that we missed. I’ve got to give credit to the whole team defensively, not just the back four. They showed tonight how much this game meant to them.”

The green and gold rarely seem to make it easy on themselves, so they’ll be happy to know they got an unlikely assist on the night from Indy Eleven, who knocked off the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 2-1. Saturday’s results put this year’s chances of a postseason berth squarely back in the hands of the Rowdies. If they close out the regular season on Halloween night with a win over the New York Cosmos they will secure the final playoff spot regardless of how Fort Lauderdale’s Sunday in Jacksonville match shakes out.

A win next weekend will be no easy task, though. The Rowdies have not won on the road since the opening week of the season, have not won a single match on artificial turf this year, and have never beaten the Cosmos in their home stadium. Tampa Bay will likely need to rely on some of the grit that has helped them stay above water in a turbulent Fall Season.

IMAGE, TAMPA BAY ROWDIES