Saturday, June 2, 2012
READING, Pa. – Soccer games may last 90 minutes, but don’t tell Deshorn Brown that. His two goals in a four-minute span were all the offense Reading United needed to take a 2-0 victory against the Baltimore Bohemians on Saturday evening.
Brown’s first goal came after Reading initially struggled to keep up with the frantic pace Baltimore applied during the first half. Despite outshooting the Bohemians 9-2 at the break, United couldn’t slip one through until Brown pounced on a miscommunication by Baltimore’s backline. The University of Central Florida standout cut off a pass from defender Joseph Meyer intended for Bohs’ goalie Phillip Saunders, and tapped it into a wide open net for a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute.
Four minutes later, defender Greg Cochrane’s outstanding delivery with his left foot across the box found a rising Brown, who snapped home a header from 10 yards out for a 2-0 lead.
That spurt ended some frustration on the pitch for Brown, who nearly bagged his first goal in the 18th minute on a point blank shot on Saunders, who made a reflex save to keep things scoreless. He also had another chance that just missed in the 40th minute, after forward Pedro Ribeiro sent a cross to the back post that found a waiting Brown. Despite his two misses in the first half, Brown quickly redeemed himself soon after the second half whistle.
Reading outshot the Bohemians 14-3 and held an 8-2 advantage in corners. United keeper Emmanuel Martin recorded his third shutout of the young campaign without needing to make a save.
“The things that we work on every day in practice are finally starting to come through in games,” said head coach Brendan Burke. “It’s an encouraging trend that we need to continue, especially with our upcoming schedule.”
United will travel to Ocean City, N.J. to face the Nor’easters this coming Friday, then hit the road for a Wednesday match against the New Jersey Rangers. Reading battled the Rangers to a 1-1 tie in their season opener on May 12th.
In-between those two games is an exhibition against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, June 9th at 7 p.m. The exhibition is the third meeting between the Player Development Partner United and their parent Union club. Philadelphia holds a 1-0-1 advantage, taking a 1-0 victory in 2010 before a late strike netted United a 1-1 tie last year. Presold tickets are only $12, and can be purchased on readingunitedac.com. Tickets will also be available gameday at $15 each.