The Red Wolves picked up a point in Saturday night’s match on the road against Central Valley Fuego FC in a 1-1 draw with the match tying goal coming from Ropapa Mensah, his fifth of the season. Chattanooga extended their scoring streak to five matches and picked up their thirteenth point from a losing position. The Red Wolves will host the final meeting between the clubs on Saturday, September 30th at CHI Memorial Stadium.
It was a tale of two halves for the Red Wolves as Central Valley controlled the pitch through the opening 45 minutes, with Chattanooga limited to two shots. Goalkeeper Carlos Avilez had a set piece save in the fourth minute off of a free kick from Central Valley’s Victor Falck to prevent an early one goal lead for the home side. The action was focused heavily in the Red Wolves’ defensive end as Fuego collected six additional shots. The ball found the back of the net for Central Valley in the 31st minute as a volley bounced off the right shoulder of Manuel Madrid and past Avilez for an own goal for a 1-0 score going into halftime.
The second half began with more offensive attempts for the Red Wolves as they looked for a tally of their own. Chattanooga limited Central Valley’s shots to just five, including blanking their opponent with zero shots between the 60th and 90th minutes while picking up 11 themselves with four from set pieces. The Red Wolves’ substitutions reignited the offense with Ropapa Mensah coming on for Marios Lomis in the 68th minute and Mayele Malango entering the match for Jonny Filipe in the 82nd minute.
Mensah, assisted by Malango, found the back of the net for the Red Wolves in stoppage time as Malango powered past the defense to cross to Mensah for a shot that slipped just over the fingertips of the Central Valley goalkeeper. The remaining seven minutes of stoppage time saw a shot from Chevone Marsh that went just wide of the net as both sides clamored to take three points; however, they would have to be satisfied with one point apiece as the final whistle blew for the 1-1 result.
The Red Wolves will head on the road next to Wisconsin to face Forward Madison FC and return home on Saturday, August 12th to host the Richmond Kickers.