Atlanta United 2 defeated rivals Chattanooga FC in a 4-3 thriller on Sunday night at Finley Stadium. Four Atlanta players found the back of the net as 17-year-old Ashton Gordon scored his first professional goal while Karim Tmimi netted the match winner in the 99th minute.
Atlanta jumped ahead in the 12th minute of the contest. Chattanooga was looking to build out of the back from a goal kick, playing it just outside the box where Javier Armas was able to force a turnover, taking the ball back into the box before sliding it to Alan Carleton for a finish to the bottom left corner.
The home side pulled two goals back before halftime. In the 27th minute, Milo Garvanian collected the ball near the back post for a one-on-one opportunity with Jayden Hibbert, sliding a shot under the keeper to level the match. One minute into first half stoppage time, Chattanooga's Taylor Grey whipped in a cross off a counter attack to connect with Medhi Ouarmi at the six-yard box for a one-timed finish with his left foot.
In the first minute coming out of the halftime break, Atlanta earned a penalty after the ball made contact with the hand of a Chattanooga defender in the 18-yard box. Armas calmly approached the spot and sent his attempt up the right side of goal while Jean Antoine dove left.
Atlanta United's Ronald Hernรกndez tested Chattanooga from distance on back-to-back attempts, pinging a shot off the crossbar and forcing a save in the 62nd minute. Coming off of the save, however, Chattanooga played a long ball through to Ouarmi deep into Atlanta's half. Ouamri left the ball for Grey at the top of the box, who had his shot blocked, but Ouamri was there for a follow up to take a 3-2 lead.
After knocking on the door since Chattanooga took the lead, Atlanta finally leveled things up thanks to Gordon in the 87th minute. With numbers waiting in the box, Carleton slipped a pinpoint pass to the Jamaican waiting just inside the 18. Gordon controlled the ball with a defender on his back before turning to rip a left-footed shot that inched past the reach of Antoine.
Heading into the final moments of stoppage time, a scuffle broke out between the two sides that resulted in three red cards shown to Chattanooga. As the two teams began play again, Hernรกndez allowed Atlanta to gain numbers in the attacking third before sending a cross into the box for Tmimi, who was able to bring down his pass and drift across the box to get off a shot through traffic to send Atlanta up 4-3.
Atlanta United 2 (7-11-5, 29 points) concludes its three-match road trip on Friday, Sept. 6 when the team hits the road to face NYCFC II at Belson Stadium (5:00 p.m. ET, Soccer Down Here). Some ATL UTD 2 matches are available with an MLS Season Pass subscription, located on the Apple TV app while the remainder of matches are streamed live on MLSNEXTPro.com.
Notes:
- With the win, ATL UTD 2 now owns a 2-0-1 record over Chattanooga FC.
- ATL UTD 2's 21 shots are tied for third most in a match in MLS NEXT Pro play.
- Midfielder Javier Armas is the only ATL UTD 2 player to appear in all 2,070 minutes this season.
- Javier Armas recorded his seventh goal and second assist of the season.
- Alan Carleton scored his third goal and assist of the year.
- Matรญas Gallardo led all players in shots with five.
- Ashton Gordon scored his first professional goal in the second half.
- Ronald Hernรกndez registered his first assist with ATL UTD 2.
- Noble Okello led all players in successful passes with 49.
Stats:
Shots: 21-11 Atlanta
Shots on target: 8-6 Atlanta
Corner kicks: 5-3 Atlanta
Fouls Committed: 17-13 Chattanooga
Passing accuracy: 84.1% - 74.8% Atlanta
Scoring:
ATL โ Alan Carleton (Armas) 12'
CFC โ Milo Garvanian (Unassisted) 27'
CFC โ Medhi Ouamri (Gray) 45'+1'
ATL โ Javier Armas (Penalty) 48'
CFC โ Medhi Ouamri (Unassisted) 62'
ATL โ Ashton Gordon (Carleton) 87'
ATL โ Karim Tmimi (Hernรกndez) 90'+9'
Disciplinary:
CFC โ Minjae Kwak ๐จ 23'
ATL โ Kaiden Moore ๐จ 24'
ATL โ Noble Okello ๐จ 30'
CFC โ Farid Sar-Sar ๐จ 33'
CFC โ Callum Watson ๐จ 40'
CFC โ Anatolie Prepelita ๐จ 47'
CFC โ Alex McGrath ๐จ 58'
CFC โ Medhi Ouamri ๐จ 64'
CFC โ Taylor Grey ๐จ 90'+3'
ATL โ Javier Armas ๐จ 90'+4'
CFC โ Medhi Ouamri ๐จ / ๐ฅ 90'+5'
CFC โ Jesse Williams ๐ฅ 90'+6'
CFC โ Minjae Kwak ๐จ / ๐ฅ 90'+7'
