It took 186 hours, but it was worth the wait.
Chattanooga FC defeated Atlanta United 2 by a final score of 1-0 in a match that started on Wednesday, September 24, but was delayed due to inclement weather, and ended on Thursday, October 2.
Back on September 24 at Fifth Third Stadium in Kennesaw, CFC came out strong early in the first half when midfielder Colin Thomas threaded the needle in front of the goal to find Daniel Mangarov, whose shot clipped the crossbar and sailed in to find the back of the net in the 11th minute.
Atlanta United continued to apply offensive pressure through the first half and on into the second half, but CFC goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović stayed strong in front of the net, making more key saves for the Blues.
Once the match resumed on October 2 at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, Jakupović picked up right where he left off and made a number of key saves to ensure CFC brought all three points back up I-75.
CFC moves up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference in the last of four playoff hosting positions.
"It's a huge result for us," said Head Coach Chris Nugent. "We've spoken a lot about resilience all the way through the year. We saw that in the last eight, nine days of games. We planned to have three games last week and to be cut off and to be held again so late and with the travel and also play a very tough game on Sunday night with a quick turnaround and get on a bus—with all the difficulties thrown at them, the guys found ways to win and stuck to it. It wasn't necessarily pretty, but we met our objective and full credit to the team."
Next up
CFC will close out regular season play at Finley Stadium on Sunday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m. ET against Atlanta United 2 once again. The club will be celebrating Soktoberfest, thanks to partners VfL Wolfsburg, on Decision Day. Tickets are on sale at CFCTIX.com.