The Red Wolves may not be winning, but at least they aren’t losing. For the third consecutive week, the Chattanooga Red Wolves ended the match tied 1-1 with their opponent—Forward Madison being this week’s foe—after 90 hard-fought minutes.
Unlike last week’s matchup against Orlando City B, where the Red Wolves blew a 1-0 lead in stoppage time, the tie was not nearly as galling.
Chattanooga found themselves in the opposite situation, needing to score a late goal to avoid another road defeat.
Madison’s lone score came with around half an hour gone by in the match. The home team set up for a corner kick, and the ball was soon launched toward the goal. The recipient of this hail mary-esque volley was Connor Tobin. The Madison player somehow got his head on the ball and redirected it to the bottom-right corner of the goal.
The ball smashed into the right-hand pipes, and for a moment it looked as if the ball might be spit back out into the field of play. But alas, Forward Madison got a kind bounce, and the ball pinged backward into the net.
It wasn’t until the 76th minute that Chattanooga equalize the score. Vangjel Zguro might be a defender by position, but he is possibly the Red Wolves’ most talented facilitator, especially on long passes. After his initial corner kick was thwarted, the ball fortunately (for Chattanooga) found its way back to Zguro.
The Albanian defender took another crack at launching a long ball to the far post, and the sequel was much more successful than the original. His cross connected with fellow defender Nicholas Amponsah, and his diving headbutt gave Chattanooga the goal they desperately craved.
But despite hungering for another score, Chattanooga could not find the net again. This lack of scoring did not affect the Red Wolves’ defense though, as they stymied any possible Madison attack. The 87th minute brought on a threatening Wisconsin counterattack, with the team in blue fast-breaking down the pitch. A well-timed deflection by a Red Wolves defender thwarted this advance, and forced a corner kick rather than a shot.
That shot did come a few seconds later though, when the corner was deflected and Josiel Nunez collected the precious object. He proceeded to break YaYa Cisse’s ankles and launched a long bomb a la Stephen Curry. But unlike the noted sharpshooter, Nunez’s shot skied harmlessly over the post and Chattanooga avoided disaster.
Chattanooga was unable to score after this, and the game ended in yet another tie. The Red Wolves get a couple of weeks to rest before they face off against Tucson at David Stanton Field on July 27.