It was comeback that won’t soon be forgotten for Detroit City FC.
A surge of goals in the last 15 minutes of Saturday night’s contest in Cincinnati, Ohio, lifted Le Rouge to a 3-1 victory over the Cincinnati Saints.
Despite finding themselves down 1-0 for most of the match and down to 10 men after Cyrus Saydee (Michigan State) was shown a straight red card in the 68th minute, City’s Matt Ybarra (Detroit) notched the equalizing goal in the 74th minute, with Danny Dragoi (St. John’s) heading home what would be the game-winner in the 81st minute.
Dave Edwardson (Heddon FC, Eng.) sealed the 3-1 win late in stoppage time to ensure City’s first road victory in 2015.
The Saints opened the scoring in the fourth minute of play when Scott Shugh’s shot deflected off Josh Rogers (Michigan State) and trickled into the back of the net.
After the goal, the Saints sat back, allowing Detroit to hold most of the possession for the remainder of the first half. But City couldn’t take advantage of its chances in the final third of the pitch, and headed into halftime looking to improve its lackluster play.
James Murphy (Michigan) and Will Mellors-Blair (Michigan) combined to create the closest chances for Detroit to start the second half.
In the 51st minute, Murphy cut inside from the right flank and dribbled in toward the Cincinnati goal. He opted for a shot at the far post, and narrowly missed the goal. One minute later, Mellors-Blair hit a shot that rang off Cincinnati’s goal post.
The challenge grew for Le Rouge when Cyrus Saydee was shown a red card for an off-the-ball tackle in the 68th minute.
But similar to City’s 2-2 draw against the Minnesota United FC Reserves on the road last Sunday that saw Detroit go down one man and fight back, City again proved its resiliency.
And this time, the team wouldn’t settle for just one point.
The comeback began with Ybarra’s rocket of a strike from outside the box that landed in the top corner of the Saints’ goal. And just seven minutes later, Dragoi would head in a ball played by Mellors-Blair to give Detroit a 2-1 lead.
And just as the Saints were looking for an equalizer of their own late into stoppage time, Edwardson dribbled into Cincinnati’s 18-yard box off a pass from George Chomakov (Schoolcraft) and slotted the ball home to make it 3-1.
Dragoi’s game-winning goal was his first of the season, earning him M1 Imaging Center Man of the Match honors.
The dramatic win gives Detroit momentum heading into a busy two-match weekend, first traveling to Pittsburgh on Friday, June 26, then hosting Lansing United at Cass Tech on Sunday, June 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Get your tickets to Sunday’s first-place showdown at https://www.detcityfc.com/tickets.
