Chattanooga Football Club continued its unbeaten start in MLS NEXT Pro league play after a convincing 4-1 away win over Southeast Division rivals and fellow independent side Carolina Core FC thanks to goals from four different sources.
An early own goal from Carolina defender Ibrahim Covi opened the scoring for CFC in High Point. David Polanco headed in an equalizer for the hosts moment later, however, it was all Chattanooga FC after that.
Captain Farid Sar-Sar headed in his first goal for the club in the 34th minute from Tate Robertson's in-swinging free-kick.
Things went from bad to worse for Covi, who was shown a second yellow card in the 47th minute and was sent off.
Chattanooga took full control of its man advantage. Robertson went from provider to goalscorer six minutes later to give the Boys in Blue a two-goal cushion. Substitute Peter Plougmand then put the cherry on top with his first goal for the club. The Danish striker got on the end of a brilliant one-touch pass from Minjae Kwak and finished with conviction to put the result beyond any doubt.
"It's obviously a great result given how Core played last weekend," said Chattanooga FC Head Coach Chris Nugent. "I was really pleased with some of our attacking play. We caused them a lot of problems, which led to free-kicks, red cards and goalscoring chances. I do think we can increase our attacking incision a little bit. We showed great character. The guys kept a level head throughout the match, so I'm really pleased with that. This great start is a lot of credit to the staff and the players and the commitment they've shown since the start of January."
Nugent also touched on the contributions of each of the goalscorers, who all notched their first goals for the club in a competitive match.
"They've [Sar-Sar and Robertson] both been huge for us all season. They contribute in a lot of ways that don't always show up on the statsheet, so it's great for them both to score and get some recognition in that way. Peter [Plougmand] came in and has had to be patient to get some minutes, so to see him score on virtually his first touch is huge. There's a lot of excitement to see him play, so to see him rewarded for his hard work off the field is huge."
After five matches in league play, CFC is off to its best start in the club's professional era and since 2016 overall. The Boys in Blue now have a three-point cushion at the top of the Eastern Conference.
CFC will be back at Finley Stadium on Saturday, April 19th to face the other North Carolina-based team in the league, Crown Legacy FC (Charlotte), with kick-off set for 7:00 p.m. EST.
Noteworthy
- Keegan Ancelin, Jesus Ibarra and Daniel Mangarov started as a front-three for the first time this season
- Jakupović, Sar-Sar, Garvanian, Robertson, Mendonca and Watson are the six players in Nugent's squad to have started all seven matches so far this season
- Sar-Sar, Robertson and Plougmand all scored their first goals for the club in official competition
- This was CFC's first win at Truist Point Stadium
- The result evens the historical head-to-head between the two clubs (2-2)
- The result is also the largest margin of victory of any match between the two clubs