Thursday, June 14, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The River City Rovers maintained their push for the playoffs with a convincing 4-0 victory against the Chicago Fire PDL on Thursday night at the Christian Academy of Louisville. With the victory, the Rovers moved into sole possession of second place in the PDL’s Great Lakes Division, trailing the Michigan Bucks by two points.
The Fire had the better of the first half, working hard to control the game as they held the majority of possession. Chicago had a few strong shots in the opening 45 minutes, but they were unable to get past the Rovers’ goalie, Oliver Brown, who made four first-half saves and seven overall.
The Rovers had chances of their own in the first half, as a counter-attack by Two-Boys Gumede and Buck Tufty created their first chance of the game, only for Gumede to be called offside, but it wasn’t until the second half that River City found a way to break the deadlock. Tufty provided the breakthrough, beating his defender before firing a shot across goal and just inside the post in the 57th minute.
The Rovers doubled their lead in the 71st minute as Kyle Richards chipped a ball to Tyler White for a 2-0 lead, and three minutes later Richards found the back of the net himself when a pass by Tufty sent him through on goal to add to the Rovers’ lead.
River City then added its fourth in the 90th minute as they were awarded a penalty kick which Tufty converted. The victory was the widest margin of victory in the the club’s two-year history, while alslo doubling their win total of their inaugural season just seven games into the season.
The Rovers’ next home game will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 21, as they host the Hamilton FC Rage at the Christian Academy of Louisville in Middletown.