Tobacco Road FC falls to the Myrtle Beach Mutiny 3-1

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC- Tobacco Road FC falls to the division-leading Myrtle Beach Mutiny by a 3-1 margin on Wednesday night at North Myrtle Beach Sports Park. Tobacco Road falls to 2-2 while the Mutiny improve to 3-1-1. 

“Obviously a tough loss,” said Tobacco Road FC head coach Cedric Burke. “Myrtle, in my opinion, is by far the best team we have played… I thought we started a bit slow.”

The Mutiny came out strong from the start. A creative build up at the top of the 18-yd box resulted in the Mutiny laying the ball off to a trailing midfielder who guided a left footed shot to the bottom left corner of the net in the fourth minute. 

Physical play dominated the pitch. In the first half featured 13 fouls, a six-seven split in favor to Myrtle Beach. Three yellow cards were given in the first half, one to Tobacco Road and two to Myrtle Beach. In the second half, Myrtle Beach had five fouls compared to Tobacco Road’s one. 

At the break, Burke made adjustments to his side switching from Tobacco Road’s usual 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3 to counter Myrtle Beach’s unexpected 3-5-2 formation in the first half. The switch worked well for the visitors, spurring them to a more competitive second half. 

“I was pleased with the change,” Burke stated. “I thought we responded well and had the better run of play for most of the second half.” 

In the 52nd minute Tobacco Road FC found the equalizer. A free kick from 30-yds is overstepped by Mauricio Pineda and taken by Champe Mendoza who plays a through ball to Pineda who slides the ball across to the back post where Vicente Gallardo muscles the ball into the net. 

Myrtle Beach reacts and earns a penalty kick in the 59th minute after goalkeeper Ryan Cretens clips the ankle of a Munity attacker. The PK goes off the right post and comes back across the face of the goal where a Mutiny player cleans it up. 

Tobacco Road responds well and controls the pace of play in search of an equalizer. The Mutiny goalkeeper did well and made four crucial save.

In the 86th minute it looked as though Tobacco Road had found their equalizer. Oscar Moreno drew a foul about 23-yds out. Champe took the free kick and hit a beautiful curler around the wall but the Mutiny goalkeeper positioned himself well and made a fantastic save. 

While Tobacco Road was pushing bodies forward for an equalizer, a quick counter closed out the match for the home team as Mutiny forward Carleton McKinsey outran the Tobacco Road defense and scored in stoppage time.  

This result had little effects on the standing as Myrtle Beach remains at the top and Tobacco Road in second. 

Tobacco Road has a quick turnaround as they travel to Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary, NC to take on North Carolina FC U-23 Saturday at 4:30. Tickets are available at the gate.