Salvaging a point 'a massive credit'

A defeat staring his side in the face with less than five minutes to go Saturday night, Jeremy Christie stepped up to the penalty spot.

His penalty kick straight down the middle of the net in the 86th minute gave the 10-man Rowdies a tie that felt like a win, sending the capacity crowd of 8,082 home happy after a 2-2 tie against the Austin Aztex in USSF Division II action at Steinbrenner Field.

"I was watching the first one (Aaron King) took and he dived pretty early," Christie said. "I knew he was going to dive, so I made sure I hit it nicely down the middle."

The penalty came after Stanley Nyazamba appeared to have the ball taken cleanly from him after he broke into the penalty area, but referee Andres Pfefferkorn pointed to the spot.

It was the third penalty kick of the game and the second for the Rowdies (1-1-2), who opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 10th minute. After Aztex goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo failed to cleanly gather a through ball intended for Long Tan, the Chinese player stole possession and was pulled down in the penalty area. King slotted his shot low into the left corner for his second goal of the season.

Nyazamba had gotten an energetic crowd on its feet with a shot in the eighth minute that rattled off the crossbar from just outside the area when a corner was only partially cleared. Tan also forced another save from Gallardo in the 12th minute, but from then the Aztex (3-1-1) found their rhythm.

Austin's pressure led to Eddie Johnson scoring an equalizer in the 28th minute, a curling free kick from 25 yards over the defensive wall that gave Daryl Sattler little chance as it found the bottom left corner of the net.

The Aztex took the lead in the 59th minute as a deflected shot sent Sattler scrambling to keep the ball from going in. But on the rebound, Rowdies defender Rob Valentino lunged to block Maxwell Griffin's shot with his hands. That resulted in a penalty kick, and Valentino's ejection for an intentional handball in the area. Jamie Watson converted from the penalty spot as Sattler guessed right but saw the shot slide under his body.

That appeared to be the goal that would send Rowdies fans home disappointed until Christie's late goal salvaged a point.

"You'll always take a point when you're down to 10 men," Rowdies coach Paul Dalglish said. "It was kind of a strange game, but in the end when you go down to 10 men and you can show that effort and that commitment and those fitness levels, to be able to dominate a game with 10 men, especially at the end, is a massive credit to those guys."