PDL Game Report
Saturday, May 17, 2014
CLINTON, Miss. – Mississippi Brilla (1-0-0) got a late winner from substitute Stephen Roberson to snatch a 2-1 victory in their 2014 opening match against the Panama City Beach Pirates (0-1-0) on Saturday night. Roberson scored with three minutes to play to earn his side a dramatic late victory at Arrow Field.
The match began as a back-and-forth affair and would stay that way for the whole match, despite Panama City Beach losing a player at the end of the first half to an ejection. After a few close calls, the Brilla opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Chandler Gagnon found an open Andrew Power, who settled the ball in the penalty area and slotted home with his left foot.
Panama City Beach had a chance near the end of the first half to equalize when Brilla defender James Gulley was penalized for a tackle on a Pirates attacker in the penalty area. The resulting penalty kick by Pirates forward Alassane Kane was saved by Brilla ‘keeper Carl Blundell to keep the Pirates off the board.
In the last minute of the first half, Panama City Beach suffered a major setback when midfielder Anthony Arico was shown a red card and ejected for serious foul play on a foul suffered by Brilla’s Phillip Buffington. They would be forced to play the entire second half with only 10 men.
To their credit, the Pirates proved to be just as dangerous in attack down a man, and earned an equalizer in the 69th minute when substitute Ricky Hoegg buried his shot in the corner of the Brilla net.
Both teams squandered great chances to score over the next 20 minutes, but it was the Brilla who finally broke through when Roberson ran onto a great through-ball from Lucas Almeida and slid his shot past Pirates goalkeeper Sean Lewis. The Brilla finished out the last few minutes before the referee whistled for full time.
Mississippi now goes on the road for a two-game road trip where they will face the Houston Dutch Lions on May 22 and the defending DPL Champion Austin Aztex on May 24.