ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The Rowdies have been on the struggle bus from the get-go.
They fired head coach Robbie Neilson after a 1-3 start and tabbed Steve Coleman as interim head coach. But new leadership has yet to spark the positive change the club was hoping for. Through 13 matches, the Rowdies find themselves at the bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference.
The good news is there’s still plenty of soccer left to be played and the Rowdies remain confident they can turn their season around.
“There’s a long way to go,” said Rowdies interim head coach Steve Coleman. “The table isn’t where we want to be but for us, the message is always it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”
The Rowdies have had solid stretches of play, but they have to put together a complete 90-minute performance. In order to do that, they have to get off to faster starts. Heading into Wednesday’s match against Indy Eleven, 8 of the 23 goals the Rowdies have given up in league play have come in the first half hour of a match.
How you start every game is about concentration and the mentality and how approach everything from the first minute,” said Rowdies midfielder Lewis Hilton. “There are a lot of good teams in this league and it’s hard to keep coming back from behind and giving yourselves a mountain to climb. We definitely want to start the game well and build that foundation for a 90-minute performance.”
Following Wednesday, the Rowdies have a break in action before returning to the field for the Third Round of the USL Jägermeister Cup on Friday, July 4, at FC Naples.
