Unlucky play in the 65th minute ends Championship dreams for the Lions in front of 4265 people in Richmond
Richmond, August 24 2013 - an unlucky bounce off an own defender gave Ngwenya a free run at Matt Williams to score the only goal of the game in the 65th minute, with Dayton outshooting Richmond 9-7. The loss means an end to a successful 2013 season making the playoffs for the first time in it's 3 year history.
Dayton's Captain Joel DeLass
The first half was pretty even with both teams putting pressure early on and although Richmond had a little more possession in final third of the field, they created only two chances (by Delicate and Ownby), whereas the Lions also had two good scoring opportunities with Bardsley getting an open chance only 10 yards from goal in front of Dykstra and Garner shooting from point 16 at goal to be saved by the Kicker's goalie as well.
The Lions came out strong the 2nd half with Garner breaking through putting the ball at Bardsley who's shot was saved by Dykstra. The game was even until the 65th minute, when a poor clearance ricocheted behind the defense to an onrushing Ngwenya. Streaking through the midfield, he latched onto the loose ball and barreled into the box. Facing Williams 1v1, he calmly tapped in a low ball just inside the right post. Vercollone nearly doubled the score in the final minutes of regulation when second half substitute Nate Robinson played the ball back to the midfielder posted at the top of the box but his laser shot through traffic was deflected over the crossbar. In a last gasp effort to level the score, Dayton forward Brandon Swartzendruber swept up a loose ball in the midfield and fed it through to an unmarked Eli Garner. With the club’s postseason future on the line, he struck a low driven shot on target but Dykstra threw himself off his line to parry the ball wide to send the Kickers through to the next round.
Forward Eli Garner
More info will follow later.
Line up: Matt Williams, Taylor Lord, Greg Preciado, Shintaro Harada, Brock Granger, Joel DeLass, Irakli Khutsidze (Joe Broekhuizen – 80’), Josey Madigan, Gibson Bardsley, Brandon Swartzendruber, Eli Garner