Behind a gorgeous corner from Simon Fitch and a well-timed header from Marcelo Lage, the Kickers earn three points
The Richmond Kickers (5-11-5, 20 pts) earned a gritty 1-0 win over One Knoxville (9-3-7, 34 pts) Saturday night at City Stadium. Marcelo Lage buried his first goal as a Kicker, off his head from a Simon Fitch corner. And that duo, along with Klaidi Cela, homegrown young guns Griffin Garnett and Beckett Howell —both instrumental in the attack and defending— helped fellow young Richmonder James Sneddon to a clean sheet on the night.
“From the first 20 minutes, we were on the front foot,” said Captain Dakota Barnathan. The Kickers built attacks up through their formation from the first whistle and maintained control through the end of the night. In the 26th minute, Beckett Howell combined with Josh Kirkland, who found Barnathan. Dakota found Darwin who got the ball back to Kirkland. For the striker, it was a quick shake and bake in the box before he got a shot off but a One Knox defender stepped in the way just in time.
The Kickers attack would be back in not even four minutes later. A header from Barnathan found Emiliano Terzaghi on the run who sent a through ball to Kirkland. Kirkland took it into the box, and sent a shot but it got tipped out by a defender.
The attempt earned a corner which Howell took. The 20-year-old sent a ball in right onto the head of Marcelo Lage but his redirect sent the ball to the other side of the box. Espinal was there to send the ball back in but his shot was deflected away. Howell scooped up the loose ball and got a shot off that was headed just wide of the far post. Lage tried to redirect it in again but it just skipped too far.
Lage would ultimately find his header though. The 6’5” centerback was the target again in the 34th. Josh Kirkland won a corner and Simon Fitch sent a perfect ball in. Lage took off and buried his first goal for the Roos.
Another Richmond corner in the 51st allowed Howell to find Barnathan on the far post. Barnathan played it to his feet and sent a low shot in through the defense but Sean Lewis got a foot to it.
In the 63rd, One Knoxville tried to create some confusion in front of goal. The Kickers made multiple clearances but bodies flew in different directions to both keep the ball in and send it out. A late strike from the visitors found its way through the group but James Sneddon had his eye on it and dove wide left to make the save.
James Sneddon and his backline stayed locked in through the final whistle. One Knox rallied a barrage of attacks through the last 20 minutes but the Richmond backline wouldn’t break. James stepped up in the 89th to save one last attempt from One Knox.
He sent Adrian Billhardt and Hayden Anderson booking it the other way, in stoppage time. The two used their speed to shake Knoxville defenders until finally, Anderson was fouled deep in Knoxville territory. The winger took the free kick right into the final whistle and turned around to hype up the 4,100 person crowd at City.
