United claim massive 1-0 win over Long Island
READING, PA (June 24, 2018) – Reading United A.C. (9-0-1) outlasted the Long Island Rough Riders (6-2-1) to claim a massive 1-0 victory on Sunday night at Wilson High School’s Gurksi Stadium. United midfielder Felipe Hideki’s second half goal was the difference between the sides. With the win, Reading United pulled nine points clear of the second placed Rough Riders in the Premier Development League’s Mid-Atlantic Division.
The match between the top two sides in the division was a tense affair from the opening kickoff. The Reading United defense, led by PDL Top 50 Prospects Kamal Miller and Daniel Krutzen, weathered an early storm from the visiting Rough Riders. Miller was extremely active along the backline, throwing himself in front of multiple shots and clogging the Long Island passing lanes.
Midway through the first half, Reading began to turn the screw on the visitors. In the 25th minute, Daniel Krutzen played a beautifully lofted cross into the area for Kieran Roberts, but the English forward steered his header agonizingly wide.
Moments later, Krutzen caused massive confusion amongst the Long Island defense. The Belgian defender gathered a diagonal ball in the left channel and beat defender Jacob Bohm. Long Island goalkeeper Dylan Castanhera rushed off his line but miss hit his clearance which allowed Roberts to hit a sizzling effort on frame from a difficult angle, but Castanhera gathered it up to make amends for his error seconds earlier.
Though there was a good deal of sparring between the PDL Eastern Conference’s top sides, the teams headed into the locker room at halftime locked in a 0-0 stalemate.
Reading came out of the break the brighter of the two sides, racking up a flurry of scoring chances inside the first fifteen minutes of the second half. The 56th minutes saw United midfielder Zach Zandi play a perfect through ball to in-form winger Kalil Elmedkhar. The Union Academy product split two defenders and was one-on-one with Castanhera. The Long Island goalkeeper made himself big and denied Elmedkhar’s effort to open the scoring.
The 71st minute saw United finally score the game’s opening goal. Hideki popped up in the Long Island penalty area and got just enough on his effort to see the ball squirt across the goal line to hand the hosts an important 1-0 lead.
There would be no repeat of Long Island’s comeback in the teams’ first meeting of the season. The Rough Riders threw everything at United’s goal, including a mad scramble in front of the Reading goal as the clock ticked into stoppage time. Reading goalkeeper Bennet Strutz was their to save the day for Reading, holding the Rough Riders at bay long enough for United to secure and their seventh shutout of the season.
The victory puts Reading United nine points clear of Long Island and in firm control of the Mid-Atlantic Division with just four matches to play. Reading can lay claim to the best defense in the league, allowing just three goals through the first ten matches of 2018.
Reading Head Coach Alan McCann was full of praise for his team and especially the defensive unit, saying, “That’s a massive win and another clean sheet as well. That was probably the best performance we’ve seen from that back four. A clean sheet against the second placed side and especially against a striker like Charlie Ledula, he was a handful today. So I’m very impressed with our back four in a big, big win.”
Reading United’s next home match in league play is set for Friday, June 29th against Evergreen FC at Wilson’s Gurski Stadium. United will be honoring local servicemen and women as well as local first responders as part of the club’s annual Hometown Heroes game. Reading United will also be hosting developmental affiliate, Bethlehem Steel F.C., in a friendly match as part of the Philadelphia Union Festival on Tuesday, June 26th at Gurksi Stadium.
SCORING SUMMARY
RUAC – Felipe Hideki – 71′
READING UNITED LINE-UP
GK – Bennet Strutz; DEF – Rob Campbell, Kamal Miller, Will Campbell, Dawson McCartney (Gilbert Waso 64′); MID – Aaron Molloy, Zach Zandi (Oscar Ramsay 78′), Felipe Hideki (Matt Greer 88′), Daniel Krutzen, Kalil ElMedkhar (Austin Maloney 73′); FWD – Kieran Roberts
