Hickory Cruises to 5-0 win over Bantams

Forrest Wimberly
17 hours ago
3 min read

Credit Allie Howard

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It was a complete and dominant performance from visiting Hickory FC playing Saturday night at the South Carolina United Bantams in USL2 South Atlantic action.

Hickory grabbed a 2-0 advantage before the halftime break and then provided some distance with a third goal around the hour mark. A pair of late strikes in second-half stoppage time inflated the score and put the exclamation point at the end of a very successful road match for Hickory.

Hickory had the best chance of the opening 20 minutes after a passing sequence up the right flank produced a cross that was headed goalward forcing a scrambling save by the Bantam’s keeper. This action served as the warning for the opening Hickory goal that came just 10 minutes later.

The match was a choppy, start-stop affair with numerous fouls and breaks in the action that didn’t allow either team to really get a grasp on the match.

The breakthrough moment occurred in the 30th minute as Hickory Mario Albert drove a ball on the dribble through the midfield and unleashed a powerful, long-range shot that rocketed into the upper corner of the near post for the 1-0 Hickory lead.

Not done before the half, Hickory struck again in the 36th minute as the speedy Javan Ochieng went on a long, solo slalom up the right flank cutting inside the crowded area to take a low, driven shot. The shot would take a cruel deflection wrong-footing the Bantam’s keeper and squibble over the line for the 2-0 lead for the visitors at the halftime break.

The Bantams adjusted a few things at the half and produced a positive sequence of passes in the 60th minute resulting in a promising header inside the box, but there just wasn’t enough power on the header to fool the Hickory keeper and the scored stayed 2-0 Hickory.

Just after this positive spell for the Bantams, Hickory won a free kick and worked in something from the training ground to add a third goal. The free kick was looped over the Bantam’s defensive line to a runner at the near post drawing all the defensive attention. The Hickory runner headed the ball back across the face of goal to the back post, where defender Alvaro Bonet was there to smash the ball into the open net on the well-executed set piece.

The choppy nature of the match continued in the second half and the match looked to be heading to full time, but Ivan Morcillo scored a second-half stoppage time brace to put the final touches on a dominant performance from Hickory FC. A free kick and then a tap in off a square ball were the ways Morcillo earned his brace as the Bantams were just chasing Hickory shadows around the defensive area by these late moments in the match.

Hickory moves to 5W-2L-0T in second place in the South Atlantic Division. The Bantams fall to 3W-3L-1T in seventh place in the South Atlantic. Hickory plays at Port City and the Bantams play at the Charlotte Eagles in their next matches on June 17.