The Chattanooga Red Wolves returned to USL League One play on Friday night against One Knoxville SC for the first league match up between the intrastate rivals. An action filled first half saw Knoxville take an early 3-0 after the Red Wolves went down to ten men in the 20th minute, but a goal from Pedro Hernandez in first half stoppage time avoided the shutout for a 4-1 result in favor of the home side. The final meeting will be held at CHI Memorial Stadium on October 5th.
The first half saw Knoxville jump into an early 1-0 lead in the fourth minute with a goal from Kempes Tekiela. The home side kept their foot on the gas to force Chattanooga to the defensive and found a second goal in the 16th minute. The match got more physical with no cards issued to either side until the 22nd minute when Jamil Roberts was shown a red card, match ejection for a handball after attempting to block a ball that was heading toward the far side of the goal – Tekiela stepped to the spot and chipped the ball past Bush for a third goal for the home side.
Down to ten men, Chattanooga worked to organize their press and climb out of a three-goal deficit and put together more chances through first half regulation time. As the half went to six minutes of stoppage time, Pedro Hernandez made a hard shot outside of the box that landed past the One Knox keeper to get the Red Wolves on the board, and the half would end in a 3-1 score.
Having cut the lead to two goals, the Red Wolves came into the second half with more urgency to get opportunities early, getting two shots early from Stefan Lukic and Ropapa Mensah. Scott Mackenzie would make a triple substitution in the 62nd minute to bring on Mayele Malango, Owen Green, and Omar Hernandez in place of Lukic, Gustavo Fernandes, and Ualefi. Malango provided two shots shortly after entering the match, one blocked and one off target.
The momentum seemed to favor Chattanooga through the 75th minute, but the Red Wolves would be denied on a corner kick and various chances around the box. In the 89th minute, Leo Folla, who had entered the match for Pedro Hernandez in the 85th minute, conceded a penalty in the box that resulted in the second successful penalty kick for One Knoxville to lengthen the lead to 4-1. The physical intensity of the contest continued and as the second half went into four minutes of stoppage time, a red card was shown to Malango following a collision in Chattanooga’s defensive corner to send the Red Wolves down to nine men for the last two minutes of the match.
The Red Wolves will have a bye week before facing Lexington SC for the final match of group play in the USL Jägermeister Cup. They will return to CHI Memorial Stadium on September 7th to play Forward Madison for the first of back to back weekends at The Den, the latter against Greenville Triumph. Tickets for the final four home matches of the season are available for purchase now.