Battery's Scorless Streak Stretches to 405 Minutes in a Loss to FCNY

Last night, the Battery faced the expansion FC New York in front of 3,328. Up to that point New York had earned two points in 4 matches, had scored just 2 goals, and had earned a fifth place spot in the National Division. The Battery, who hadn't scored a goal in 3 matches, but hadn't lost a home match since the 2009 season would host them.

When you look at it that way it looks pretty even. One team that's apparently not very good, and one team that's been struggling. Seems like a fair fight to me.

But let's be honest, everyone and their grandma expected the Battery to win this. Even I, maybe the most critical person of all, suspected that the Battery were just in a bit of a slump. But this is not so.

Now its not time to panic yet, that's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is that the Battery aren't as good as many, including myself, thought. There are some good pieces, Armstrong, Dykstra, Wilson, etc., and I do believe that they will make the playoffs, maybe they won't finish first or second, but they'll make it.

The point is, the Battery won't be winning by any huge margins, or going on a road trip and cleaning house, or having the league's leading scorer. None of that is going to happen.

What we will see for the rest of the season, is a team that will fight as hard as it can to find itself, find a scorer, and find some points.

Anyway onto last night's match. By the way I wrote the series of paragraphs above, you should realize that the match did not go in the Battery's favor.

The match started out well enough, defenders Marples and Falvey had a couple of chances in the first 30 minutes, and we saw the Battery dominate the first 30 minutes in both shots and possession.

New York would strike in the 35th Graciano Brito galloped onto a long ball and shrugged off tackles from John Wilson and Colin Falvey to put it in past Wiggans from about 10 yards out.

The Battery put in Dane Kelly for Seedy Bah up front, and Kelly made an immediate impact, getting some shots on goal, receiving some crosses, and passing decently.

Still the Battery couldn't equalize.

In the 90th minute, the Battery had their last chance to find an equalizer. Prince got the ball over on the left, and found a left footed shot on goal, but Steven Diaz saved it to deny the Battery a single point.

This is a disappointing loss, but the Battery just need to work on finishing. The Battery had 10 shots to New York's 3 and the passing was fine, they just need to tweak our boots a little bit.

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Scoring Summary	Goal (Assist)	Minute
New York	Brito	35
Team Summary	Charleston Battery
Players Keith Wiggans, John Wilson, Colin Falvey, Mike Zaher (Jon Gruenewald 85), Nigel Marples, Nicki Paterson, Kevin Jackson (Alex Caskey 45), Cole Peverley, Stephen Armstrong (Zach Prince 71), Levi Coleman (Brandon Massie 71), Seedy Bah (Dane Kelly 45) Players Not Used - Sean OConner, Mark Wiltse SHOTS: 10 (Falvey 3); SAVES: 1 (Wiggans 1); FOULS: 15 (Peverley 3); CORNER KICKS: 5; OFFSIDES: 1; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Armstrong 31, Falvey 67; EJECTIONS: (NONE)
Team Summary	New York
Players Steven Diaz, Troy Cole, Kyle Hoffer, Sam Stockley, Josiah Snelgrove, Steven Roche, Tadeu Terra, Quame Holder (Gary Boughton 84), Johnny Arteaga, Owen Morrison (Paul Shaw 65), Graciano Brito Players Not Used - Derby Carrillo, Sam Craven, Steve Covino, Karseten Smith SHOTS: 3; SAVES: 4 (Diaz 4); FOULS: 12 (Brito 3); CORNER KICKS: 2; OFFSIDES: 2; PENALTY KICKS: (NONE); CAUTIONS: Brito 17, Morrison 37; EJECTIONS: (NONE)