Rowdies' winless streak reaches 7 games in draw

The energy and effort that appeared to be lacking less than a week earlier was there in abundance for the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies on Thursday night.

Unfortunately, the goals the side has been trying to find remained elusive as the Rowdies remained winless in their last seven contests after a 0-0 draw against the Puerto Rico Islanders at Steinbrenner Field.

For the second straight home game, kickoff was delayed, with 2,742 fans braving the rain after a holdup of 1 hour, 15 minutes. Those fans almost saw an opening goal from Tampa Bay's Pascal Millien in the second minute, but he pulled his shot wide when it seemed the goal the team needed to boost its confidence was there for the take after a good pass by Aaron King into Millien's path caught the Islanders defense napping.

Millien continued to be a dynamic presence in the first 20 minutes, looking to take on the Islanders' defense and create scoring opportunities. He almost did in the 13th minute but couldn't quite find King in the center of the area after being forced wide by goalkeeper Cody Laurendi, and four minutes later forced Laurendi into a solid save with a rifled shot from the top of the penalty area.

Laurendi, a 21-year-old making just his second appearance of the season in place of Bill Gaudette, was the busier of the goalkeepers. He produced his best save of the night to deny Rob Valentino's near-post header in the 42nd minute as the defender almost broke the deadlock off Mozzi Gyorio's corner from the left.

Fewer chances came in the second half as the game became progressively more ragged, the Rowdies getting caught up playing the same direct style as the Islanders. Rowdies midfielder Takuya Yamada went close, seeing his deflected shot go just wide of the left post in the 62nd minute and Andre Akpan, on as a second-half substitute, fired just wide after cutting in from the right wing with five minutes to go.

After what could have been a frustrating night with the lack of goals, the Rowdies remained confident things were turning in their direction after the game.

"I'm pretty sure if we get one, we'll get a couple more and it'll keep coming," Millien said. "Our teamwork is there, we're so compact together as a team, and the coaches are doing such a good job."

Overall, Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish was far happier than he had been after the team's 1-0 defeat against Minnesota on Saturday night.

"I thought the closing down, the work-rate, I thought it was absolutely outstanding," Dalglish said. "There were some really, really good performances. It's a very important point for us against probably the most physical team in the league, and the way the young guys stood up to them and competed with them was so pleasing for me."

It wasn't a performance without its nervous moment late on, though. While they didn't force Rowdies goalkeeper Daryl Sattler into a save, the Islanders could have stolen victory in the last 15 minutes.

A good turn of his defender by David Horst put the Islander through on goal in the 76th minute, but Sattler came off his line well to force him wide to the right side of the penalty area. Horst's cross into the 6-yard box was cleared, but came to Nicholas Addlery 20 yards from goal and he fired his shot just wide of the left post.

Then in stoppage time Puerto Rico won a dangerous free kick just outside the Rowdies' penalty area, only to see Kendall Jagdeosingh's shot be deflected over the crossbar by Yendry Diaz.

Dalglish thought earning a point, and more importantly avoiding defeat, would give the team a boost ahead of Thursday's game against Rochester. But for a team that hasn't won since May 29, getting the goals flowing and earning three points against the Rhinos would be a welcome result.

"We hope that the next one we'll get that," Millien said. "That's what we're going for, we feel good about this, but we've got to clean this up offensively and try to see if we can get the ball in the back of the net. Hopefully we can get that going."