CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (August 10, 2024) — Chattanooga Football Club came up against Southeast Division rivals Huntsville City for the third and final time of the regular season on Saturday night and fell just short with a 1-0 defeat.
Jonathan Perez scored in the eighth minute, which proved to be the deciding goal on this occasion.
CFC edged the possession on the night and managed three shots on target, while goalkeeper Jean Antoine made several crucial saves to keep the match within grasp.
Minjae Kwak and Callum Watson both played the full 90 minutes in what will be a boost to Sporting Director and Head Coach Rod Underwood for the depth he has to choose from in the run-in of the season.
The result sees CFC drop to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
"My overall reaction from tonight is that ultimately we need to be better in front of goal," said Underwood. "Defensively we were better. There were some good moments offensively, but not enough, and that is something we just need to get better at. We need goals. I've said it over and over again: one goal is really hard to hold on to in this league. That's the reality. We just need to keep putting guys in front of the goal and keep getting better in those areas."
Attention for Underwood and the team swiftly turns to another Southeast Division test on the road against Crown Legacy FC.
"It's an important game for us. They have a chance to leapfrog us with their game tomorrow. But next week's a match we have to get."
After the match on Sunday August 18th the team will travel to Inter Miami II on Sunday August 25th.
CFC's next home match will be on September 1st during Labor Day weekend against Atlanta United 2, which will see the return of fireworks. Tickets are on sale now.
Noteworthy
- Anatolie Prepelita returned to the starting XI for the first time since July 17 after recovering from an injury
- Jean Antoine made six saves in the match
Box Score
Huntsville City FC (4W-11L-5D, 0SOW, 17 pts.) - Chattanooga FC (7W-7L-7D, 5SOW, 33 pts.)
Wicks Family Field | Huntsville, Ala.
Attendance: 4,567
Final score:
HNT: 1
CFC: 0
Scoring summary:
8': Perez - HNT
Stats (HNT/CFC):
Possession: 48% / 52%
xG: 1.26 / 0.52
Shots: 15 / 8
Shots on goal: 7 / 3
Blocked shots: 5 / 2
Total passes: 385 / 428
Passing accuracy percentage: 86.2 / 86.2
Corners: 7 / 5
Free-kicks: 10 / 16
Total crosses: 6 / 6
Offsides: 0 / 1
Goalkeeper saves: 3 / 6
Clearances: 6 / 3
Fouls: 20 / 10
Discipline:
28' - CFC: Garcia Sosa (Caution)
32' - HNT: Jonathan Bolanos (Caution)
45'+1 - HNT: Isaiah Jones (Caution)
64' - HNT: Christopher Applewhite (Caution)
69' - CFC: Callum Watson (Caution)
72' - HNT: Jordan Knight (Caution)
89' - HNT: William Perkins (Caution)
Line-ups:
HNT starters: Bryan Dowd; William Perkins, Christopher Applewhite, Joel Sangwa, Jordan Knight (Faiz Opande 79'); Dominic Gasso (Tomas Ritondale 90'+3), Isaiah Jones (Joseph Skinner 79'), Jonathan Perez (Tyler Pasnik 62'), Ollie Wright; Jonathan Bolanos, Forster Ajago (Woobens Pacius 90'+3)
Substitutes not used: Simon Jillison, Joseph Akpunonu, Fernando Ciceron, Adem Sipic
Head coach: Chris O'Neal
CFC starters: Jean Antoine; Milo Garvanian, Anatolie Prepelita, Duvan Viafara, Joseph Perez; Andres Jimenez Aranzazu, Callum Watson, Luis Garcia Sosa (Jude Arthur 69'); Alex McGrath (C) (Ethan Koren 82'), Minjae Kwak, Mehdi Ouamri (Jalen James 69')
Substitutes not used: Jonathan Burke, Farid Sar-Sar, Logan Brown, Robert Screen, Jesse Williams, Taylor Gray
Head Coach: Rod Underwood
Post-match reaction
