First Round saw us beating the Orlando Wolves 6-0 at home. Then, the same score line but this time we were on the losing side.
Tampa Bay Rowdies 6–0 The Villages SC
We are out of the U.S. Open Cup, beaten by a professional club from the USL Championship in front of a national audience on ESPN+.
The scoreline is the scoreline. They are a professional side with a full-time squad that has been together since preseason. We are a League Two club three weeks into a season, with a group of players who in some cases had met each other a fortnight earlier. Over ninety minutes that showed.
MAN OF THE MATCH Chris Dilan. "Hot Wheels" was aggressive and didn't shy away from the challenge. With personality and the attitude to keep playing forward no matter the score.
What we want to talk about is the people in the away end.
We were outnumbered by a considerable margin and you would not have known it. Our supporters were audible from the first whistle to the last — through the first goal, through the fourth, through all of it. Nobody left early. Nobody went quiet.
To everyone who made the trip to St. Petersburg on a Tuesday night: thank you. Our players heard you, and they have said so.
This is why we enter this tournament. Seven years running now, and it has taken us to Charleston, to Jacksonville, to Auburndale and now to Al Lang Stadium against a professional club on national television. Our players will remember this week for the rest of their lives, scoreline included.
Back to the league. We have a season to play. Let’s Go Buffalo!
