Don’t mention it to him when you see him, but Georgi Hristov is on the verge of becoming the all-time Tampa Bay scoring leader, scoring his 55th goal in Tampa Bay’s 2-0 win over Bethlehem Steel Saturday night. Hristov is two goals
shy of breaking the record of 57 goals in a Rowdies shirt,
which is held by Derek Smethurst, who has held the record since 1978.
“I don’t really think that way, because then I create pressure for myself,” Hristov said. “That’s not the way I want to move forward. I just try to do whatever I can and do my best. If I think about it, it just creates pressure.”
Hristov found himself in the right place to score the opening goal of the match in the second half. Midfielder Jack Blake sent in a well-placed free kick that was met with Hristov’s head and floated over Bethlehem’s John McCarthy in goal.
“It was a good goal. I knew it would be a good goal. When your’e in the box, you try to be in the right place at the right time. I was just smarter than the defender, so I’m happy I was there.
The goal was a dauntless response to the controversial call in the first half that disallowed a valid goal scored by the Rowdies
“Honestly, the referee has got to do a little bit better, Hristov said. “They have to step up a little bit. Obviously they didn’t want to call it off, I know it’s not something they wanted to do but it doesn’t matter. This is professional sports and I play for my family; I want to win games and it’s important
for us.”
Hristov’s scoring prowess came among a comprehensive victory for Tampa Bay in front of more than 7,300 fans in the seasons’ home opener. Leo Ferndandes scored the second goal of the match, and his second in as many starts, while Cody Mizell made his
triumphant return to Al Lang for the Rowdies on an outstanding performance, making four crucial saves.
“I thought it was a real good performance from the first minute, really,” head coach Stuart Campbell said. “I thought we defended really well as a team and attacked really, really well as a team and created multiple chances.”
Tampa Bay has remained undefeated with two victories in the young 2018 season, which gives Campbell a lot to work with in the coming weeks.
“It’s absolutely crucial. we were away for the first game so it was a good performance and a great result getting you first win of the season away and then coming home to this crowd is amazing. I though the atmosphere was brilliant.”
The Rowdies travel to Louisville next week to take on the undefeated Louis
ville City FC. LCFC earned a 2-0 win of Nashville in their opening match of the season, but did not play last week against as their match against North Carolina was postponed.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31.
Roaming St. Petersburg 