Friday, July 12, 2013
READING, Pa. – Reading United had seen this script in the past. Regular season home finale and your captain sent off in the first half versus an opponent looking to punch their own ticket to the playoffs. It happened one year ago, when Reading skipper Stephen Okai was sent off in the first half of the last home game of the regular season against an Ocean City Nor’easters team that was ready to celebrate a division title. The 2012 United squad took control of their playoff destiny as they picked themselves up and scored two second half goals to beat Ocean City.
Fast forward to Friday night’s match. Down a man after newly-minted captain Damion Lowe was sent off in the 44th minute, United rebounded in the second half scoring four goals against fellow playoff contenders the Long Island Rough Riders to record an impressive 4-0 victory on Fan Apprection Night. United’s goals came in a 23-minute surge that temporarily propelled the club back to the top of the Mid Atlantic Division standings.
The first half of the match featured thrilling end-to-end action as each of the playoff contenders sought to grab the advantage. United held a slight edge in possession and created several good opportunities through some very crafty build-up play. Much like recent matches though, Reading was not able to find the final pass to cut apart the stubborn Long Island defense.
The talking point of the first half was Lowe’s ejection in the 44th minute. The United defender was fouled just inside the Long Island half of the field. As he got up to walk away from two Rough Riders players, Lowe brushed away one of his opponent’s arms and was shown a straight red card for what referee Eric Weisbrod deemed as violent conduct.
United came out of halftime as the more aggressive side. Darius Madison, acting as a lone striker, remained active and continually threatened the Long Island back four. With more space to operate, the forward found room down the right channel and nearly opened the scoring in the 56th minute. Breaking into the Rough Riders’ penalty area, Madison hit a lovely chip that floated just over Marco Joergensen’s crossbar.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 67th minute thanks to a great through-ball from Wes Charpie. The defender found Kadeem Dacres in the right channel with a superb pass. Cutting back to the middle of the penalty area, Dacres fired through traffic to beat Joergensen to hand United a 1-0 advantage.
Second-half substitute Mario Pinto nearly doubled United’s advantage in the 73rd minute but saw his shot skim off the outside of the post. Undaunted, Reading’s leading goalscorer handed United a two-goal lead in the 75th minute as he took advantage of a Long Island mistake and buried his shot into the back of the net.
Manolo Sanchez increased United’s lead when he hit a long range blast from outside the penalty area that Joergensen failed to get behind completely. The ball squirted away from the normally sure-handed Rough Riders goalkeeper and rolled over the goal line to make it 3-0.
Following the 86th minute ejection of Rough Riders defender Joe Posilico, Wes Charpie capped the scoring in the 89th minute. Sanchez took the ball on the right side of the field and raced into the Long Island penalty area. As Joergensen and his defenders were about to close down the Reading midfielder, Sanchez hit a chipped cross that found Charpie unmarked at the far post. The defender merely had to tap in to push the score to 4-0.
Following the match, Lowe spoke about how important the win was for his team. “It was a great win. Everyone wanted it, the whole team wanted it, the coaches wanted it and the fans wanted it. We were tired of the ties. We pushed and the team stuck together.”
Coach Ged Quinn felt Lowe’s red card changed the game in United’s favor. “The game pivoted when we went down to 10 men. I think that opened the game up a little bit and the second half, we came out with a little bit more energy. With a little more space that we provided because Long Island had to come at us, it allowed us to exploit that space.” As for the adjustments made at half time, Quinn said, “We knew the game was still there for the taking. We were trying to be a little bit more aggressive, we thought we were very passive in the first half. So basically, we said be aggressive, isolate someone one on one and get at them and try to switch the point of attack a bit quicker than we did in the first half.”
Reading United will travel to Ocean City on Sunday to face the first place Nor’easters in a match that will likely determine the Mid Atlantic Division title. Kickoff from Ocean City’s picturesque Carey Field is set for 7 p.m. United’s final regular season match will take place on Saturday, July 20th when the team takes on the Central Jersey Spartans.