CARY -- Allowing two goals and missing a penalty kick in the first 15 minutes of play is normally a bad omen.
But for the Carolina RailHawks, two hard-working goals late in the first half gave the home team a 2-2 tie with the NASL Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night.
"To be 2-nil down against the Whitecaps, who've got the best defensive record in the league, and come back to 2-2 by halftime and miss a penalty kick, is overall good and it keeps us in touching distance of them," said RailHawks head coach Martin Rennie, whose team is in second place in the conference.
The difference between the teams in the first five minutes of the game was a crossbar. In the second minute, Gregory Richardson's handball in the box gave the Whitecaps (8-3-10) a PK, which captain Martin Nash finished to give the visitors an early lead.
The RailHawks (6-4-7) had their chance after a handball by Nash in the box put Floyd Franks in position for a PK just three minutes later. But Franks' shot hit the center of the crossbar and foiled Carolina's opportunity to tie.
In the 15th minute, a defensive miscue led to the Whitecaps' second goal of the match. Defender Matt Bobo was unable to box out a Whitecap as the ball neared the corner, and the conference leaders were able to maintain possession in the RailHawks' defensive third. With Carolina attempting to set its defense, Matt Davies scored from 15 yards on the right side of the box.
"The first half, what we were looking to do was be a lot more in the attack than we were in the game we just played against Rochester," Rennie said. "We were working on getting forward a lot quicker, and we were doing that actually really well, but the first 15 minutes of the game we were losing 2-0, which was hard to believe."
The RailHawks found their break in the 40th minute when a corner kick bounced out to Josh Gardner, who sent a rocket through the defense from 25 yards out that couldn't be collected by keeper Jay Nolly. RailHawks newcomer Allan Russell, who joined the team last week, found the loose ball and assisted to Mark Schulte for Carolina's first goal.
"It's my weaker foot, so I had to concentrate to keep it down," Gardner said.
"The boys did well to follow up and that's what we gotta do. We have to follow up if we keep shots on target."
Less than five minutes later, the RailHawks knotted the score on a counterattack when Gregory Richardson assisted on Gardner's goal. It was Gardner's fourth of the season and gave Carolina the momentum heading into intermission.
But Rennie did not see that as a positive.
"Halftime came at the wrong time for us because we were so on top and playing so hard and the tempo was so fast that it was hitting us really well," he said. "Second half we couldn't get the tempo quite as fast."
The second half was relatively quiet, both in terms of action on the field and in the stands. Nash tried for bookend goals in the 83rd minute, but his bullet hit off the crossbar over a helpless Eric Reed, the RailHawks goalkeeper. Midfielder Nizar Khalfan muffed the rebound, and Reed controlled the last threat of the match.
The RailHawks take a week-long hiatus before returning for a home match against Montreal at 7 p.m. Saturday.
