Moses Dyer’s 76′ Minute Equalizer Secures Point for Tulsa
Moses Dyer’s 76′ Minute Equalizer Secures Point for Tulsa
TULSA – Coming into Saturday’s faceoff with the first place team in the Western Conference, Sacramento Republic FC, FC Tulsa was written off by most. In fact, Sacramento was given a 45% chance to win by FiveThirtyEight. However, FC Tulsa showed the same fight it has all season long and answered the Republic’s goal with one of its own, something only one other club has been able to do all season long. Tulsa pocketed a vital point off the back of a Moses Dyer heatseeker and five crucial saves from Michael Nelson as it eyes a run up the table.
The first half was a chess match between head coaches Blair Gavin and Mark Briggs. A formation change made by Gavin for Saturday night saw FC Tulsa line up in a 3-4-3 formation instead of its typical 4-2-3-1, mirroring the preferred tactical structure of its California opposition.
Both teams created scoring looks, but it was FC Tulsa who managed to lead the Western Conference frontrunners in quality opportunities in the first half. Tulsa outpaced Sacramento 0.55 to 0.19 in xG and in touches in its opponent’s box, 15-7. Rodrigo da Costa was the first-half standout, leading all players with four shots and accounting for the majority of the home side’s offense.
An end-to-end first half concluded right where it began with zeros on the scoreboard.
Following the whistle signaling the commencement of the second 45-minute period, Sacramento found the first goal of the affair. Tulsa keeper Michael Nelson abandoned his goal to meet Sebastián Herrera outside of the box but arrived a half-second too late and crashed into Herrera. However, the forward chipped the ball over Nelson’s head and into the back of the net before the contact was made to open the scoring.
Things remained tight following the opening goal as Sacramento continued to pepper Nelson’s goal with shots, forcing the keeper into action. The Texas native continued to stand strong as the backline weathered the storm.
In the 76′ minute, Sacramento fouled Tulsa deep in its own territory, just feet from the corner flag. The club’s assist leader, Milo Yosef, stood over the ball and delivered a beauty into the sea of bodies. The 63′ minute substitute Moses Dyer got his head to the service and blasted his shot past the keeper to level things at 1-1. The goal marked the second of the season for Dyer, the first of which he scored on March 31 in the 92+2′ to equalize vs. El Paso Locomotive in the final moment of the contest.
The largest FC Tulsa crowd of the season was sent into a frenzy, but FC Tulsa did not stand around celebrating – it could smell blood in the water and wanted to go right back to work.
From that point on, FC Tulsa continued to threaten with attempts from da Costa, Suárez and Dyer, but the go-ahead goal was not to be. Nelson made two more critical stops in the final 10 minutes of the match, bringing his total to five saves on the night.
When all was said and done, FC Tulsa came away with a monumental point vs. one of the league’s best before hitting the road to take on Detroit City FC next weekend and Las Vegas Lights FC after that. Detroit City currently sits in last place in the Eastern Conference (4 points) while Las Vegas sits second to last in the West (5 points).
Up Next
Up Next
FC Tulsa hits the road for its first of two consecutive road matches next Saturday to take on Detroit City FC. In two meetings with Detroit City a season ago, FC Tulsa posted a 1W-0L-1D record. Le Rouge currently sits in last place in the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference and has failed to score in seven of its eight matches this season, including its last six outings.
