Chattanooga FC remained unbeaten at home this season after a 0-0 draw with FC Cincinnati 2 on Saturday evening to earn a point in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference standings. FC Cincinnati won the shootout for the extra point 8-7.
Chattanooga threatened Cincinnati's goal significantly on two occasions during the first half. Markus Naglestad had a shot on target swiped away and saved by Cincinnati keeper Nathan Crockford. Naglestad nearly found the breakthrough in the 39th when he latched onto the end of a low and accurate cross from Tate Robertson, but his headed effort was saved by Crockford.
In the second half, chances were few and far between. Cincinnati struck the post in the 64th minute but the match ultimately finished goalless.
The visitors ended up on top in the resulting marathon penalty shootout for the extra point.
"We haven't been taking our chances," said Head Coach Chris Nugent in his post-match press conference. "In the last four games we've had opportunities to score and kill the game off and we haven't. In the first half today we had two good chances and missed another good opportunity in the second.
"I felt we had enough chances to score and win the game, even if we didn't create a ton of chances. The positives are we had a good impact on the game. We got ourselves in good positions and it would have been even better if we had been more clinical, which we know is what the game comes down to.
"We're a group, we're a unit and we're together. That doesn't mean things always go well. There were a lot of good moments to work from in the last four weeks but results haven't gone our way, and to be honest earlier in the season we had some wins where the other team could be saying the same thing. That is football. We have to recognize the bigger picture is there are more games in front of us. The plan is to win every single game; that's never going to change. We just need to fully recover and be who we were and go from there."
The team's next league match will be back at Finley Stadium on Saturday, July 5th against Chicago Fire FC II. Tickets are on sale now.