Hickory FC Defeat Tobacco Road 4-0

Staff Writer
8 hours ago
3 min read

Credit Hickory FC

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

By: Anthony Badillo

Entering the latter stretch of the season, Hickory FC handled business at home, collecting another 3 points in game 2 of a 3 game homestand. It was a match that started, and finished, very well for the hosts.

As they've been doing as of late, Hickory dominated possession of the ball, and created more chances than their opponents from Durham. The match itself felt fairly fast and intense, with Hickory constantly trying to apply pressure and create opportunities, and Tobacco Road constantly scrambling to recover in defense.

Hickory set the tone with an early goal in the 6th minute by right back Leo Souza, assisted by winger Robbie Deighan. After constant early pressure Hickory generated some build up play and ball movement offensively, resulting in Deighan receiving a deep pass from centre back Charlie Naylor. Deighan crossed it into the box, where Souza ran in from the right and blasted it into the back of the net.

Tobacco Road did show some fight, with a sequence of buildup play after and a free kick that resulted in a deep shot getting saved by Hickory keeper Daniel Miklosi. Hickory would continue to create opportunities, eventually earning a corner kick in the 23rd minute. Midfielder Martin Kozak crossed it into the box where a flying James Lane rose up above everyone and headed the ball into the net, whose second goal for the club gave Hickory an early 2-0 lead, setting the pace for the remainder of the match.

Hickory continued to see the half out, including a shot missed wide right of the net by midfielder Ander Marticorena in the 41st minute, while Tobacco Road continued to try and create offensive opportunities in their sparse moments of possession, but Hickory’s defense remained sturdy and never broke.

The second half began the same way as the first ended, with Hickory applying immense pressure once again while Tobacco Road fought to stay in the match. In the 53rd minute, Robbie Deighan had a near moment of individual excellence with a dribble up the middle of the box, but this ended up in the hands of Tobacco Road's keeper. This led to another near moment of individual excellence from the visitors’ left winger immediately after, receiving the ball on the left side of the pitch, dribbling past 2 defenders in the box before missing a shot to the right of the net. Hickory continued to press, with a couple of James Lane attempts getting saved and blocked in the 72nd and 73rd minute.

Tobacco Road continued to grind it out, winning multiple free kicks in the majority of the second half. This even led to a corner for the visitors in the 77th minute, however the corner was cleared, and Hickory struck on the counterattack. Leo Souza received a pass from the backline and whipped it up the pitch to a wide-open Thomas Pollacchi. The Hickory forward scored from about 25 yards out on net, and seemingly sealed the match for the hosts.

Hickory FC were relentless, as forward Bautista Rossi had his shot saved after receiving a good cross from Souza, which led to a corner. Midfielder Ronan O´Mahony took the corner, and crossed into the right of the box where centre back Jonah Straube put it away in the 80th minute for Hickory's 4th goal of the night. Straube has been in great form recently, with goals in back-to-back matches for the club.

Midfielder Mario Albert tried to follow this up with goals in back-to-back matches as well, with a deep attempt saved in the 82nd minute. James Lane also went for the brace, after a good moment of buildup play for Hickory resulted in his shot going off the cross bar in the 84th minute.

Hickory would see out the match and gathered another 3 points ahead of their crucial match against Charlotte Independence 2 at Moretz Stadium. A home win for Hickory FC would place them atop the South-Atlantic Division, as they control their own destiny in a tough stretch of matches to close out the season