It was not a Father’s Day to remember for the AFC Cleveland Royals, losing 5-1 against Detroit City. This was in addition to an already tough 3-0 loss at FC Buffalo Friday night.
Under the extreme heat at DiSanto Field, the Royals’ sluggish start put the club in a hole too deep to climb out of. Throughout the early parts of the match, Detroit pushed men up the field in an attempt to grab an early goal. Within the first five minutes of the match, Royals goalkeeper Spencer Semple had to make an outstanding save to keep the score even. Pushing up the left side of the field, Detroit made a quick run down the pitch where a City forward shot a laser on goal. Semple made a great dive to push the ball wide. Semple again in the 9th minute had to dive on a low cross that came within a foot of being shot on goal.
The score line did not stay even much longer as Detroit scored twice within two minutes of each other. A powerful shot by Detroit midfielder Latif Alashe was no match for the hand of Royals keeper Semple, going into the side netting to open the scoring in the 14th minute. This was followed a volley off the foot of Will Mellors-Blair in the 15h.
It was around the 25-minute mark where Cleveland began to show some life. Smart Osadolor moved into a more attacking midfield position, which helped the Royals attack began to form. After a series of formidable attacks on goal, Cleveland finally scored. A corner from the right side deflected around the box when finally it came right to the head of forward Vinny Bell who knocked it home.
This proved to be all the offensive fight Cleveland had in them on Fathers Day, as the team was shut down the rest of the game. An afternoon of too heavy or too soft of touches was ultimately a breaking point for the Royals. Detroit clogged the midfield and covered the wings that AFC Cleveland has become accustomed to dominating at home this season.
Your Subside Sports Man of the Match is Smart Osadolor. While not scoring today or having an assist, Osadolar provided a lone spark in attack that led to opportunities for his teammates. Not only did he help on offense, but throughout the game, Osadolor dropped all the way into Cleveland’s own 18 yard box to help defend. After the game, an exhausted Osadolor spoke of today’s game.
“I felt we started a bit slow, and obviously we worked on some things in practice and for some reason, for one or the other, we couldn’t pull it off against Detroit.”
Osadolor also spoke of getting back to the basics of positioning and possession and how improving both would help for the rest of the season.
With almost two weeks before the Royals’ next game against FC Buffalo, the club will look to get back to the basics as Osadolar put it, in hopes of staying atop the conference.
