— A cast of avenging Carolina RailHawks were expected to assemble before 4,042 fanboys/girls at WakeMed Soccer Park Saturday evening for a sequel to last year’s visit from the Tampa Bay Rowdies, when the Rowdies handed Carolina a pivotal home defeat. But following a fury-filled first half during which both teams dropped the hammer down, the two sides turned a blind eye to their attacking powers before settling for a 1-1 draw.

The RailHawks flew out like a war machine, which paid immediate dividends in the 6th minute. The quicksilver Ty Shipalane, returning to the starting XI after a stint off the bench last weekend at Indy Eleven, broke down Rowdies fullback Ben Sweat before charging toward the end line and sending a low liner that crossed the goalmouth through a rogue’s gallery of Rowdies before finding striker Nacho Novo far post. Novo slotted in the score for a 1-0 lead. The goal was Novo’s NASL-leading third out of four games this season.

The goal seemed to awaken the dormant Rowdies, which began applying increased pressure to the RailHawks’ midfield and back line. A number of turnovers and errant Carolina passes resulted increased chances for Tampa Bay. In the 15th minute, Maicon Santos got behind Carolina’s back line and beat Gilstrap to a through ball. However, Santos’ deft chip shot clanged off the crossbar.

In the 19th, Georgi Hristov drove off the right and had the vision to deliver a pinpoint cross that found a sliding Martin Nuñez dissecting two RailHawks defenders. His extending foot deflected the ball wide of Carolina goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap and over the goal line to even the scoreline 1-1.

In the 33rd minute, the Rowdies found more space in the box, but three rapid-fire smashes by Santos, Hristov and the hulking presence of Stefan Antonijevic were parried away as the RailHawks quickly recovered to form a S.H.I.E.L.D. around the goal.

The pace of the back-and-forth match continued until the 76th minute. After taking down RailHawks second half sub Wells Thompson from behind, Hristov inexplicably stepped over Thompson and stomped the back of his head. Referee Chris Penso sent off Hristov with a straight red card, leaving the Rowdies a man down.

Rowdies manager Thomas Rongen accepted Hristov’s fate but not his judgment.

“It’s a red,” Rongen remarked. “With 11 guys, we still had a chance to win this game … That hurt us. Now you have to play low pressure as much as you can. At the end of the day, we’re happy to get out of here 1-1 after playing the last 15 minutes without Georgi. We’re not happy with the way he took his red card. It was very unprofessional and not enough discipline.”

However, Carolina failed to turn their man advantage into a go-ahead goal. Their most promising chance came during added time, when a steal and 18-yard strike from Thompson nearly snuck under diving Rowdies keeper Matt Pickens.

After the match, RailHawks manager Colin Clarke critiqued the fact that Carolina failed to utilize Shipalane, Carolina’s perennial iron man, enough after his early assist.

“You give the ball to Ty five minutes in and he goes past a guy and gets a cross and picks out Novo and it’s 1-nil, and we never give the ball to Ty again for 35 minutes,” Clarke fumed. “That’s disappointing. Get it to him. You have to read those situations where he’s hurting their player and creating. Get him the ball. We started to complicate things and make tough decisions.”

Novo agreed with his gaffer’s sentiment.

“Ty has been absolutely fantastic,” Novo concurred. “We should played more out to him. We made one pass over and he made the 1-on-1 and that’s where the goal came from. But then we stopped playing to him, and from where I watched we should play more to him so he can get 1-on-1 with the left back.”

The RailHawks (1-3-1, 6 pts.) remain tied for the fifth position in the NASL standings, five points behind the league-leading New York Cosmos. Carolina travels to the last-place San Antonio Scorpions next Saturday before a May 16 home encounter with the Cosmos.

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Gilstrap; Knight, Scott (C), Tobin, Wagner; Shipalane; Hlavaty, Albadawi, Osaki, Anderson Thompson 73rd); Novo (Baladez 81st)

TBR: Pickens; D. King, Mkandawire, Antonijevic, Sweat; Sargosa, Boggs, Nunez (Chavez 85th), Hristov; Santos (Espinal 64th), Hertzog

GOALS

CAR: Novo (Shipalane) – (6th)

TBR: Nunez (Hristov) – (19th)

CAUTIONS

CAR: --

TBR: Ben Sweat (25th), Mkandawire (90th)

EJECTIONS

CAR: --

TBR: Hristov (76th)