Orlando City win first leg of I-4 Derby despite sloppy game

Dennis+Chin+scored+in+the+44th+minute+of+the+first+leg+of+the+I-4+Derby+on+Wednesday+against+the+Tampa+Bay+Rowdies.

Bryce Brimhall / Valencia Voice

Dennis Chin scored in the 44th minute of the first leg of the I-4 Derby on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Things aren’t always all smiles and cheers after a win.

Sometimes despite a victory a team can be dissapointed with their performance and that was the case for Orlando City following their 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the first leg of the I-4 Derby on Wednesday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

After the game Orlando City manager Adrian Heath expressed how unhappy he was with his club’s play throughout the entire game.

“I thought we were awful from minute one to minute 90,” said Heath after the game. “I thought out counter attacking play was very, very good, but as a group I think it’s probably the worst we’ve played for a long long time.”

Orlando City went into the game undefeated against their rivals from across I-4, having swept them 2-0 in last year’s derby and having also beat them in the Disney Pro Soccer Classic last year.

Kevin Molino opened up the scoring for Orlando City in the 28th minute, when he gave the Lions a 1-0 lead when he put the ball in the back of the net thanks to an assist from Brian “Cobi” Span.

Dennis Chin extended Orlando City’s lead to 2-0 when he buried a goal past Rowdies goalie Ryan Thompson after an initial save in the 44th minute.

Despite leading 2-0 at halftime and outshooting the Rowdies 7-4 during the first 45 minutes, Heath knew something was amiss.

“Lack of attitude, lack of desire, lack of enthusiasm big time.” said Heath about what he thought was off about his club.

Span scored an insurance goal for Orlando City in stoppage time, extending their lead to 3-0 over Tampa Bay just before the final whistle.

The Lions finished the game outshooting the Rowdies 12-7, while also earning seven corner kicks compared to none by their rivals.

Even with a three goal win, it was obvious in the post-game comments that the team wasn’t happy with the way they played against Tampa Bay.

“A lot of the things we did was just not good enough,” said Chin after the game. “We won, we won convincingly in the end, but we made a lot of silly, silly mistakes and just didn’t play the way we expected ourselves to play.”

The win over the Rowdies doesn’t count in the USL PRO standings, but as of Wednesday, Orlando City sits in first place tie in the league with the Los Angeles Galaxy II. Both teams currently have 14 points, but Orlando City has played one less game than Los Dos.

Orlando City will now prepare get back into USL PRO play, as they take on the Oklahoma City Energy on Sunday, May 4 at home.

The starting 11 could see some changes for Sunday’s game against the Energy, as coach Heath indicated following the game that he could be heavily changing the lineup.

“Possibly 10 if we had enough bodies.” said Heath about shuffling up the starting lineup this weekend.

Kickoff for the game against Oklahoma City is set for 7:30 p.m. and can be watched via Orlando City’s official Youtube page.