ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (June 3, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies were stifled to a scoreless draw on Saturday night against Atlanta United 2 in a rare home performance that didn’t produce a goal.

Here’s Three Things we learned from the match…

1. Opting for Plan B

With both teams reduced to 10 men after having a player sent off late in the first half and plenty of open space on the field, the second half took an interesting turn.

Atlanta had 66 percent of possession in the second half and completed 304 passes, two more than the Rowdies completed in the full 90 minutes.

After about an hour of methodically trying to break down Atlanta’s defensive ranks, Rowdies Head Coach Neill Collins turned to his bench and inserted the fastest players available to give the Rowdies’ attack a new look.

Alex Morrell replaced Jochen Graf in the 66th minute and then Leo Fernandes entered the match in place of Michael Nanchoff in the 74th minute. Morrell and Fernandes combined with Junior Flemmings for a three-man front line with blistering pace.

Tampa Bay started to sit deeper and lure Atlanta forward before winning the ball and springing an immediate counter attack with its speed. That approach created a good handful of opportunities.

“The three players we had up top are pretty quick,” Collins said. “Alex Morrell played in the last home game and deserved his opportunity tonight. He took it. Leo Fernandes has been good at home for us and did really, really well. He probably could have or should have scored, but the biggest thing for me is that he changed the game. That’s what your substitutes are for.”