The Basics
Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Ft. Lauderdale Strikers

Saturday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET

Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg

The match can be seen live on Great38 TV in the Tampa Bay area and online at NASLlive.com.

Follow us for live updates on Twitter at @RowdiesGameday.

Admission
Limited tickets are available through the Rowdies front office at (877) ROWDIES. Tickets can also be purchased by clicking here. The stadium box office opens at 4:30 p.m. on gameday. Stadiums gates open at 6 p.m. Be sure to stick around following the match to enjoy a spectacular fireworks show (9:50 p.m. approx.)

2014 NASL Spring Records (W-T-L)
Tampa Bay: 1-3-2, 6 points
Fort Lauderdale: 4-0-2, 12 points

Series History
The Rowdies are 10-4-2 against the Strikers in league matches since 2010, including a 9-1-2 mark in the NASL. The Rowdies won three matches against Fort Lauderdale last season, including 4-0 and 2-1 wins at Al Lang Stadium. The clubs compete annually for the Coastal Cup, which has been won by the Rowdies every year.

Rowdies Notes
The Rowdies return to Al Lang Stadium following a 3-0 loss to the New York Cosmos on May 17 in front of 4,855 fans.

Head Coach Ricky Hill inserted three new starters into the Rowdies lineup for match, with defender Jay Needham, midfielder Christophe Lallet and forward Casey Townsend all making their first NASL starts of the season. In addition, Tampa Bay goalkeeper Matt Pickens was forced out of the match with a thigh/quad injury in the 24th minute. Subsequently, Ryan Thompson stepped into the match and made his NASL debut.

Scouting the Strikers
The Strikers arrive in St. Petersburg having been beaten 3-1 by Minnesota United FC in a top-of-the-table clash last Saturday in Minnesota. Going into that match, the Strikers sat atop the league table, ahead of Minnesota on goal difference. Fort Lauderdale now sits tied for second-place with New York, though behind on goal difference.

Under coach Gunter Kronsteiner, the Strikers play a fluid, attacking style in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Against Minnesota United, Marius Ebbers led the attack with a support trio of Shawn Chin, Fafa Picualt and Martin Nunez. Nunez is tied for the NASL lead with four goals, but will serve a one-match suspension for being shown two yellow cards and the subsequent red against Minnesota. Goalkeeper Oka Nikolov has kept two clean sheets this season.

Quotable
Head Coach Ricky Hill
"The rivalry with Fort Lauderdale is a great rivalry. It's been fantastic over the course of many years. Fort Lauderdale has been there since the get-go. We always have difficult games against them because they're an attacking-minded team. They've hit the ground running and done very well. I'm hoping that our players understand we expect a big performance from them."

Up Next
Following this match, the Rowdies enter the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a road match against Orlando City on Wednesday night and then an NASL match in North Carolina against the RailHawks on May 31. The next Rowdies home match is against Minnesota United FC on June 7.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Blake Wagner scored a dramatic extra-time winner as the Tampa Bay Rowdies completed a three-goal comeback to top the Fort Lauderdale Strikers 3-2 in the Florida Derby on Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium.

Fort Lauderdale led 2-0 at the 34 minute mark, but a goal from Willie Hunt in first-half stoppage time put the Rowdies on the comeback trail. Anthony Wallace equalized the affair with a stunning goal in the 62nd minute to set up Wagner’s late winner. All three goals came from the Rowdies’ backline as Tampa Bay scored multiple goals in a game for the first time this season.

“It was tremendous. I’m very happy,” Rowdies coach Ricky Hill said. “It’s a big three points, but it is only three points. Being 2-nil down with our difficulties at home, I must applaud our fans for sticking with the team and supporting them. The ovation we got at halftime, even though we were losing, must have lifted the team. I’m happy we were able to reward the fans.”

Mark Anderson and Shawn Chin scored goals to put the Strikers ahead in the 19th and 34th minute, respectively, but the Rowdies piled the pressure on in search of a goal as the half continued on.

Georgi Hristov earned a penalty kick for Tampa Bay in the 34th minute, but Fort Lauderdale goalkeeper Oka Nikolov made the save to keep the Rowdies off the board.
Nikolov was omnipresent in the opening half, saving from point-blank range on a number of occasions as Lucky Mkosana and Christophe Lallet wreaked havoc in the box. Nikolov recorded nine saves in the first half to keep the Rowdies off the board until late. He finished with 13.

“I have to commend the players for having the resilience to play for the whole game even when we were 2-nil down,” Hill said. “We missed a penalty when we were 2-nil down. A lot of teams could have dropped their heads and felt sorry for themselves, but this lot didn’t. Credit to our guys for showing great character and commitment.”

Fort Lauderdale’s Carlos Salazar was dismissed from the match after picking up a second yellow card in the 41st minute. Up a man, the Rowdies drove the Strikers legs to exhaustion.

Hunt started the rally with a headed goal in first-half stoppage time, his first goal of the season.

Wallace pulled the Rowdies even with a sharp right-footed shot from well outside the 18-yard box that dipped and curved between defenders before buzzing past Nikolov and into the net. Midfielder Shane Hill laid the ball off to Wallace about seven yards beyond the edge of the box. Wallace took his time and weighed his options before blasting home.

“They were a man down so they were just trying to pack everything in and sit back,” Wallace said. “I figured, ‘Why not step up and take that space?’ Shane fed me the ball with a lot of time, I lifted my head, put it back down and struck it.”

The Strikers looked to have secured a point before Wagner’s strike sent the fans home happy and sent the Rowdies into Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup tie against Orlando City with some momentum.

“It’s sweet,” Wagner said. “It’s sweet because we got a win and that’s what we needed. It’s not just for me, it’s sweet for everybody. I hope this sparks us moving forward.”

Scoring Summary
Fort Lauderdale: Mark Anderson - 19th minute (Assisted by Marius Ebbers)
Fort Lauderdale: Shawn Chin - 34th minute (Assisted by Marius Ebbers)
Tampa Bay: Willie Hunt - 45th minute (Assisted Georgi Hristov)
Tampa Bay: Anthony Wallace - 62nd minute
Tampa Bay: Blake Wagner - 90th minute 

Caution Summary
Fort Lauderdale: Matt Hall - 35th minute
Fort Lauderdale: Carlos Salazar - 35th minute
Fort Lauderdale: Carlos Salazar - 41st minute (Second Yellow)
Tampa Bay: Willie Hunt - 49th minute

Starting XI
Rowdies XI (4-4-2): GK Cody Mizell; D Willie Hunt, Frankie Sanfilippo (c), JP Rodrigues, Anthony Wallace (Blake Wagner 78'); M Christophe Lallet, Darel Russell, Shane Hill, Evans Frimpong; F Lucky Mkosana, Georgi Hristov

Fort Lauderdale XI (4-2-3-1): GK Oka Nikolov; D Darnell King, Rafael Alves, Stefan Antonijevic, Ivan Guerrero (c); M Chris Nurse, Carlos Salazar, Shawn Chin (Colin Murphy 69'), Mark Anderson, Fafa Picault (Matt Hall 32'); F Marius Ebbers (Yaikel Perez 90')

Up Next
Following this match, the Rowdies enter the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a road match against Orlando City on Wednesday night and then an NASL match in North Carolina against the RailHawks on May 31. The next Rowdies home match is against Minnesota United FC on June 7.