HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KENTUCKY – In front of a record attendance (625) at Scudamore Stadium, FC Cincinnati (10-4-1) took down New England Revolution II (4-9-2) for the second time this season at home via another goal from striker Kenji Mboma Dem.
FIRST HALF
In the 17th minute, wingback Moises Tablante danced around two New England defenders and put a shot on goal that forced New England keeper John Gunn to push the ball over the bar.
FCC nearly broke the deadlock in the 24th minute of the match, as forward Ben Stitz played a nice one-two combination with Mangione and found Kenji Mbomba Dem in the box, who blasted the shot over the bar.
The Orange and Blue opened up the scoring in the 34th minute from a great strike by Kenji Mbomba Dem who laced one into the top right corner of the net to give Cincinnati a 1-0 lead.
FCC 2 tested Gunn a lot in the first half, registering 10 shots, five of those on target. The Revs only had two shots, but Walters had to make a save on both occasions.
As both teams made their way to the locker room, the scoreline remained 1-0 in favor of the Orange and Blue.
SECOND HALF
After the first 45 minutes, both sides struggled to create quality goal-scoring opportunities.
Substitute Marcos Dias had a chance to equalize in the 64th minute but his attempt was saved by Walters.
In the 85th minute, a long ball over the top allowed Guilherme Santos to nearly double the Orange and Blue’s lead as he took a shot to the near post, but it was stopped by Gunn.
As the match moved into stoppage time, New England put a cross into the box in the 93rd minute, but Walters once again denied the Revolution an equalizer.
FC Cincinnati 2 were able to hold on to their 1-0 lead, giving them their 10th win of the season.
REVIEW OF THE GAME
The Orange and Blue were missing four starters, midfielders Stiven Jimenez and Nico Benalcazar, center back London Aghedo, and wingback Isaiah Foster, who all were in the 18 for the first team on Saturday against FC Dallas.
Stepping into the lineup were forward Ben Stitz, midfielder Yair Ramos Perez, wing-back Moises Tablante and center back Juan Machado. Mboma Dem dropped into the attacking midfielder position and Peter Mangione dropped as a holding midfielder.
Head coach Tyrone Marshall was pleased with the result, along with the new players in the starting 11.
“It’s one of those games that you kind of see what the team is made of in terms of the character,” he said. “The guys stepped up tonight and, played a position that they don’t normally play, and then they did the job. Everyone’s working for each other, you could see that then, everyone wanted it.”
Marshall spotlighted Mboma Dem as well, who now has four goals and two assists on the year, and six goal contributions in the last four matches.
“Kenji was one of the players that called into the first team training this week, he’s been doing a fantastic job,” Marshall said. “I think he’s a very smart football player, as you can tell, good quality with the left foot, finds good pockets to finish. We’re just gonna keep believing in him and keep challenging him. That’s the biggest thing, to keep challenging him.”
The Orange and Blue outshot the Revs on the night in shots 16 to eight, with seven shots on target to New England’s three.
Cincinnati had just 40 percent possession while the Revolution had the majority of the ball with 60 percent, but still, could not find the back of the net.
With the win, FCC 2 still sits in second place in the Eastern Conference with 31 points on the season, just one point behind Philadelphia in first.
FC Cincinnati 2 Lineup:
(3-5-2)
GK: Paul Walters
D: Gael Gilbert, Brian Schaefer, Juan Machado (Lincoln Matuskiewicz 84′)
M: Amir Daley, Yair Ramos Perez (Jesus Castellano 46′), Kenji Mboma Dem (Alejandro Guido 84′), Peter Mangione, Moises Tablante
F: Ben Stitz (Stefan Chirila 61′), Guilherme Santos (Yeiner Valoyes Romana 89′)
New England Revolution II Lineup:
(4-3-3)
GK: John Gunn
D: Moshtaba Al-Hansnawi, Santiago Suarez, Eric Klein, Damario Mcintosh (Alexandru Parvu 57′)
M: Patrick Leal, Lucas Maciel, Olger Escobar (Marcos Dias 57′)
F: Malcolm Fry (Andrej Bjelajac 87′), Alex Monis, Gevork Diarbian (Joshua Bloma 71′)
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