Rodrigo da Costa’s late goal the difference as Memphis 901 FC defeats Charleston Battery

An eventful 90 minutes transpired inside AutoZone Park with Memphis securing yet another victory and extending their unbeaten streak to a dozen games, this time against the Charleston Battery and former 901 head coach Ben Pirmann. Charleston now sits in second in the Eastern conference standings, with Memphis just a slot behind in third.

There were plenty of twists and turns to get to the favorable 3-2 scoreline, but Memphis scored the opener to get the fireworks started. With their first real chance, Jeremy Kelly started a clinical counter-attack by launching the ball up-field after regaining possession from the Battery. Rodrigo da Costa waited on the other end, settled the ball at his feet, pivoted to his right and sent the ball into a dangerous area inside the 18-yard-box. Charleston defender Deklan Wynne got a foot to it but the ball fell right to Laurent Kissiedou who capped off the team effort with a nice finish.

The goal was against the run of play as Charleston was the first team to settle in, using their unrelenting pressure to bother Memphis and control the pace to their liking. The Battery have been confident away from home all season with a 5-1-1 road record coming into Memphis. They seemed to have a game plan of making life difficult for Aaron Molloy and Jeremy Kelly, two key components of the 901 attack, by limiting their touches and taking away space if they did happen to receive the ball. When their swarming midfield did flip possession, they immediately looked to capitalize with their potent offense. They responded to Memphis’ goal by scoring two of their own in quick succession. Roberto Avila scored the first with a header, collecting a rebounded ball off the hands of Drew Romig. The second came in controversial fashion as Fidel Barajas put away a goal after getting behind the back line, but Memphis was adamant that the goal should have been disallowed due to offsides.

There were five minutes of extra time added to the first half due to a Drew Romig injury. The Memphis goalkeeper went down in the opening stages of the game after teammate Jelani Peters incidentally kneed him in the head. A lengthy delay followed featuring safety protocol and head wrapping which proved to be important. Four minutes into extra time, Rashawn Dally used his blistering pace to chase down a ball down the right side of the pitch and forced Trey Muse out of the box where he completely missed his header attempt — leaving an empty net for Dally in which he took full advantage of.

Memphis came into the second half with some momentum but had two goals taken away due to offside calls. About five minutes went by afterwards, when a hard foul on Molloy caused a stoppage in play. There were lengthy conversations involving several people near the coaches and Stephen Glass was eventually shown a red card, forcing him to leave the sidelines.

There was a period of frustration from Memphis afterwards with forced passing and a lack of control, but the defense did a solid job of absorbing Charleston’s pressure which was starting to compound. A super sub by the name of Bruno Lapa solved all of these issues mere minutes after he checked in. The game-winning goal started in open play when Kissiedou found himself in acres of space. He sent a beautiful ball downfield to Lapa who had a few brilliant, patient touches before finding the fellow Brazilian in da Costa who scored easily.

Memphis had already responded to being down a goal in the match, but they now had to survive 15 minutes with the lead. Things got nervy towards the end with Memphis dodging several bullets in transition play, but there were several missed opportunities for the Battery in their set pieces — which often sailed out of play or right to an opposing player. Charleston had more total shots (Charleston: 19, Memphis: 7) and corners (Charleston: 9, Memphis: 5) but Memphis were more clinical and took advantage of a key goalkeeper mistake.

Up next on the schedule is a road trip out west as Memphis takes on Phoenix Rising FC on July 1, with a late local start time of 10 pm CST.

(Photo: D’Angelo Connell Photography)