An excellent showing of people gathered at PPL Park on Saturday to support the Union as they took on rivals, DC United. The astonishing atmosphere pushed the Union to get a 2-0 over the team and move up in the Eastern conference to third place.
It was apparent early on that the Union was not taking this game lightly although DC has only 3 wins this season and had set an extremely youthful starting lineup which excluded Dwayne De Rosario.
The Union kicked the game off with several goal scoring opportunities which came from McInerney and Le Toux, but it wasn’t until the 35th minute when Conor Casey was able to score and bring the Union up 1-0. The goal came from Sheanon Williams who at the moment was sited far upward in the right midfield position; he had sent the ball into the box to find Le Toux who gave a flicked header to find the feet of Casey who was situated right in front of goal. All Casey was left to do was shoot a low, hard ball to the right corner of the net, out of Bill Hamid’s reach.
After half time, DC United had subbed in Dwayne De Rosario for Kyle Porter. De Rosario’s presence would immediately change the game. DC came out for the second half of the game with a stronger desire to win than what was seen in the first 45 minutes of play, and kicked of the half with multiple chances, none successful however. The closest came in the 57th minute when De Rosario had possession of the ball, he had four Union defenders covering him inside the box but he still managed to get through, but was soon taken down by Jeff Parke. Colin Martin then made a sprint towards the ball and got a quality shot off. DC were unable to equalize at this moment thanks to Williams who was found on the goal line. Zac MacMath had came way off his line in effort to stop De Rosario, and WIlliams was able to head Martin’s shot out of the box.
The Union’s second goal came in the 75th minute. The cross came in from Fabhino, directly to Casey, and all he was left to do was volley the ball into the back of the net, to extend the lead the Union had over DC. Great plays like this were made from Fabhino all throughout the game. He has really stepped up to the plate to cover for injured right back, Ray Gaddis and proved that he can be an effective asset on the team.
Towards the last few minutes of the game multiple efforts were made by Jack McInerney to make it a 3-0 game but he was unable to get any shots on target. McInerney is now goalless for 7 consecutive games. Hopefully he will be able to change this at the game vs. the New York Red Bulls this upcoming weekend.
(image courtesy of Greg Carroccio)
