Chattanooga Football Club came up against Southeast Division rivals Crown Legacy FC for the third and final time of the regular season on Sunday night and secured a crucial two points with a 3-2 shootout win, after the match finished 1-1 at the end of regulation in Matthews, North Carolina.
After a goalless first half that saw CFC put in a strong defensive performance, Crown Legacy's Tyger Smalls opened the scoring in the 54th minute. However, the Boys in Blue showed an immense amount of resilience and continued to knock on Crown Legacy's door with a multitide of chances.
Mehdi Ouamri finally found the equalizer in the 88th minute, when he pounced on the end of Milo Garvanian's cross and scored his ninth goal of the season.
The match went to a shootout, and CFC ultimately secured the crucial extra point thanks to a masterful performance in goal by Jonathan Burke.
"Overall defensively we played well," said Burke. "Communication-wise we were very on point. We talked a lot before the game on how to mark. The guys did phenomenal today. I don't think I deserve as much credit as I do right now because the backline was incredible today. Even though it was cooking and so hot out in the first half, everyone communicated well and put a shift in. The first goal was unfortunate, but sometimes you need that for a little boost. We moved on from it very well and were able to get one ourselves. Honestly, we probably could have got two because we were on them after that first goal we conceded. The spark came from conceding that first one."
Sporting Director and Head Coach Rod Underwood gave his reaction to the match: "There was an ebb and flow to it. We started strong. We strated the game well and then we struggled a bit in the last 15 minutes of the first half. We started well in the first 10 minutes of the second half but a simple mistake happened where we didn't track properly and they slot the ball in. We didn't give up. We kept fighting and we showed character. We made some adjustments. We had a couple of good looks in the second half and Mehdi [Ouamri] was opportunistic and pounces on the chance and we get the goal."
The result sees CFC jump up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings to remain in a playoff position.
CFC will now prepare for another Southeast Division test on the road against Inter Miami CF II next Sunday, August 25th, with a 7:00 p.m. EST kick-off.
CFC's next home match will be on September 1st during Labor Day weekend against Atlanta United 2, which will see the return of fireworks. Tickets are on sale now.