The RailHawks’ 2-1 win over Vancouver at WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday gave Carolina their second straight win and ninth of the season, matching the team’s win total for the entire 2008 campaign.

Gregory Richardson, who joined the RailHawks on July 8 after a brief trial, scored in his debut for the club, and Sallieu Bundu scored for the second straight match after going more than two months without finding the back of the net.

It was the RailHawks’ first win over Vancouver in three tries at WakeMed Soccer Park, and Carolina attacked with the vigor and flourish it displayed over the first month of the season.

The win also gave the RailHawks more wins (nine) than any other team in the league (three others have eight).
Yet there was an air of frustration for the home side – but in a good way.

“It's a great result, I'm just frustrated because it could be so much more,” said Carolina coach Martin Rennie. “I'm happy we won, but we missed about seven really clear chances. I mean literally seven chances. So I don't know. Ultimately, we’ve played well and we’ve got a good result, we've got to be happy. But it's a good sign that we're frustrated that we didn't win by more against the champions. To be honest, I thought we completely dominated the game after the first 10 minutes. I thought we were all over them, passed the ball really well and I'm really happy with the result.”

The RailHawks (9-4-3) outshot the Whitecaps 13-11 and drew six corner kicks to Vancouver’s three.

While Carolina controlled the ball and dictated the pace, too often throughout the first half they gave the ball away with an errant pass or a bad touch before they were able to really pressure the Vancouver defense. But shortly after the half hour mark, the RailHawks found their form and offered a glimpse of what was in store for the final hour.

In the 36th minute, midfielder Daniel Paladini took off on a brilliant individual run down the left side. As he approached the penalty area, he cut back toward the inside. After several more touches left a trio of Vancouver defenders in his wake, Paladini hit a low shot that had Vancouver goalkeeper Jay Nolly out of position, but the ball hit the post. It’s the sixth time this season a Paladini shot has hit the woodwork.

In the 44th minute, Richardson showed flashes of why Rennie brought the Guyanese forward into the team.

Richardson took a ball from John Cunliffe on the left side. He went one-v-one with and beat defender Wes Knight to the endline, then flung a ball toward the goal. It took a deflection off Vancouver defender Marco Reda and then snuck past Nolly for the game’s first goal.

“I’m real happy to score a goal. It’s nice playing again,” said Richardson, who was waived by the Colorado Rapids on June 26 after spending most of the season toiling on the bench.

With that goal just before the intermission, the RailHawks came out for the second half sharp. After controlling possession and seeing a handful of near misses, Bundu got what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 65th minute.

Just over the midfield line, Plotkin played Bundu into space. Bundu raced by defender Wes Charles, and Nolly came off his line. Bundu and the Vancouver goalkeeper met at the top of the penalty area, and the ball popped up in the air. Bundu and Nolly both continued to pursue it. As the ball came back toward the field, Bundu beat Nolly to it and knocked the ball into the open goal.

“Yeah, I'm feeling good, this is what I want,” said Bundu, who pulled into a three-way tie with Paladini and Gavin Glinton for the team lead in goals scored this season (three). “This is all I've been waiting for, keep scoring, get into the scoring list. And now it happens, and I thank God for that.”

During the final 20 minutes, the RailHawks had at least four more opportunities to score. After a great counterattack turned around the Vancouver defense, Bundu got the ball unmarked 12 yards from goal, but his left-footed brace went inches wide of the far post.

Three minutes later, Plotkin created a chance for himself off the dribble, but Nolly (five saves) punched the shot over the crossbar. On the subsequent corner, Paladini smacked an 18-yard laser, but Nolly turned it away.
Then in the 88th minute, Glinton beat Vancouver’s offside trap and went one-v-one with Nolly, but the over-worked Whitecaps keeper won that challenge.

“This game could have been 5-1, 6-1,” Plotkin said, echoing Rennie’s analysis of the match. “That’s something we need to work on. On the year, we’ve scored 17 goals in the league, and we’re on 30 points now. Thirty points from 17 goals, we’ll take it, but it’s not like we’re shooting out the goal. It’s something we need to really pick up. It’s a mentality we need to develop. We’re working on it in training. It’s a good problem to have because you’re creating the chances, now the hard part is finishing the chances in training, and then bringing it inside the lines and doing it here.”

Carolina was well on its way to a 10th shutout until a last-minute letdown allowed Charles Gbeke to draw one back for the visitors in the 90th minute. In the end, all that goal did was add a pinch of tension to stoppage time.

The RailHawks will try to set a new club record for wins in a season next weekend, when they return to Charleston – site of their 1-0 win on July 11 – on Friday to meet the Battery, then it’s back to WakeMed Soccer Park for a showdown with Miami on July 26.

“Coach told us, a good team is all about winning,” Bundu said. “Cause he said, every time it happens, it's not like you win two games then you lose one, it's continuous, you've got to keep winning. And he tells us, a good team wins. If we're a good team, we're ready to play, we are a good team, we need to go for it, and that's how we do.”