Toyota Field – San Antonio FC Head Coach Darren Powell has talked about his team’s character all season long. On Thursday night, their character showed once again as SAFC made more history.
San Antonio FC rallied from a goal down in the second half to defeat the Orange County Blues FC at Toyota Field on Thursday. The victory was the first set of back-to-back wins for the club in franchise history.
Michael Reed got the scoring started early as he took a pass from forward Jacques Francois, beating goalkeeper Brandon Miller in the 17th minute to put San Antonio up 1-0. Orange County responded before halftime as Roy Meeus scored off a corner kick to make it one goal apiece after 45 minutes.
The Blues took the lead in the second half as Didier Crettenand sent the ball just past the reach of San Antonio keeper Josh Ford in the 50th minute to give the visitors the one goal advantage.
SAFC knotted the score once again thanks to a key substitution. Franck Tayou came on and quickly made his presence felt as he scored from point blank range in the 73rd minute with a tap-in goal. San Antonio completed their comeback nearly seven minutes later when Milton Palacios ran down a pass from Carlos Alvarez, beating Miller in the 80th minute to seal the 3-2 win for SAFC.
“It was a rollercoaster of a match,” Powell said. “The guys can be proud of themselves tonight. They showed great character and scored good goals. Those are a good three points against a very good team.”
The victory moves San Antonio to tenth place in the Western Conference standings, just one point out of the final playoff spot.
“We did great today,” Francois said. “We knew what we had to do. We worked hard and pushed forward. The back-to-back wins are big for the team and the fans; it felt great.”
Up next: San Antonio FC is now 4-5-5 (17 points) on the season and will return to the pitch on July 3 when they travel to Oklahoma to face Tulsa Roughnecks FC at 7:30 p.m.
