Nashville SC vs. New York Red Bulls II: NSC settles for another home draw

On the one hand, coming away with a point feels like a minor miracle for Nashville SC given the catastrophic start to the match. On the other hand, NSC squandered a golden opportunity to claim all three points against New York despite playing 66 minutes of the match plus stoppage time with Red Bulls II down a man.

Nashville dug itself another early hole on Saturday night, conceding a goal on the New York’s first shot of the game. In the fifth minute, a ball over the top of the NSC backline to Jared Stroud sent Nashville’s defenders into a state of disarray. Stroud sent in a cross, and Nashville centerback Justin Davis won the ball but struggled to clear it. Stroud ran in to follow up his own pass and found Amando Moreno at the back post, and Moreno had no trouble slotting it home.

Just eight minutes later, a foul committed against Andrew Tinari gave New York a penalty. At this point, an 0–2 deficit before the 15-minute mark seemed all but certain, and Nashville SC were fading out of the playoff picture like the people in Marty McFly’s photograph from Back to the Future. But Matt Pickens produced a heroic save that not only prevented a goal but brought the dejected crowd back into the game.

The game changed again in the 24th minute, when Jose Aguinaga was shown a red card for a studs-up slide tackle on Alan Winn. It ended up being a double whammy against New York because Michael Reed’s shot on the ensuing free kick was a near post rocket that beat the keeper and found the back of the net.

With 66 minutes to capitalize on a man advantage, Nashville seemed to be in good position to push ahead and get the win. But too often it was the Boys In Gold who looked like the team with a player sent off. New York’s quick and skillful attackers were annoyingly difficult to dispossess, and it was instead NSC who were left to create most of their danger on the counterattack.

As has often been the case, there were plenty of chances for NSC to go in front that came up just short. On the final play of the game, Justin Davis biked a rebound of Andrew Tinari’s second straight save of a point blank corner kick header but was adjudged offside.

With the draw, Nashville falls into ninth place as a result of North Carolina FC defeating Richmond Kickers 3–2.