LD Update: NASL Game Night

Home clubs were winless on the night, but with the playoffs looming all the attention is on positioning in the table. The Tampa Bay Rowdies joined the San Antonio Scorpions in the playoff field with a road win against state rival Fort Lauderdale that also allowed the Carolina RailHawks to jump into a tie for fourth with the Strikers with a victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders who only sit two points ahead of the duo in third. Defending champion Minnesota missed out on a chance to pull away and virtually lock up the sixth and final berth, but played to a draw against the league-leading San Antonio Scorpions.

Tampa Bay Rowdies 3:0 Fort Lauderdale Strikers - The hosts lost Michael Tetteh for violent conduct in the 19th minute. Fort Lauderdale held strong, but the man advantage proved to much going into the final 10 minutes. A Luke Mulholland corner found the head of Takuya Yamada, who flicked it on to Raphael Cox for the finish in the 81st minute. A minute later Frankie Sanfilippo scored on a counter attack and Carl Cort capped the game in stoppage time. - MORE

Puerto Rico Islanders 1:3 Carolina RailHawks - Colin Clarke's RailHawks pressed the Islanders, fresh off Champions League action, from the get-go, forcing Richard Martin to make two good saves in the first few minutes, but the attack finally broke through in the 20th minute. Brian Ackley tapped in a shot headed by Greg Shields off the crossbar for the lead and 16 minutes later Jason Garey collected the ball from Brian Shriver before firing inside the right upright. The Islanders only needed two minutes to start a rally in the second half with Nicholas Addlery forwarding the ball to Hector Ramos. They nearly equalized in the 61st through Jonathan Fana, but was inches wide. Ten minutes later they would regret the miss as Ty Shipalane found Nick Zimmerman to lock up the win. - MORE

Minnesota Stars 1:1 San Antonio Scorpions - The hosts took the lead with a diving effort to connect with the ball by Amani Walker put the ball past Daryl Sattler for the lead 33 minutes in. The Stars, though, could not hold onto the advantage for the remaining hour and gave up the equalizer in the 69th minute Hans Denissen collected the ball from Pablo Campos before driving to the inside and bending the ball to the far post. - MORE
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