Richmond Kickers forward Shaka Bangura knows how to make an entrance.
Sent into the game as a substitute in the 89th minute, Bangura scored roughly a minute later to lift the undefeated Kickers to a 2-1 victory over the Charleston Battery in Saturday's USL PRO soccer match at City Stadium.
The 25-year-old native of Sierra Leone scored his first goal of the season on the first touch of his first appearance of the season. He ran onto a lovely pass from second-half substitute David Hertel, turned slightly and pulled the trigger on a 17-yard blast from the right side. The shot eluded Charleston goalkeeper Keith Wiggans, clipped the far post and caromed into the net.
"I was a little scared at first," Bangura said. "I thought, 'I need to make the most of this (opportunity). I might not get another one.' " Then the moment consumed him, he said, and "I just picked my spot and let it go."
Bangura missed most of the first month of the season because of a quad injury suffered in practice. Kickers coach Leigh Cowlishaw arrived at Saturday's game believing that he could ask Bangura for, at most, 10 minutes.
"I was thinking about (the injury)" while lining up the shot, Bangura said. "I said, 'Well, this is it. You've got to give it a try.' "
Then he laughed.
"You know what? It didn't hurt at all."
Bangura's goal completed a spirited Richmond comeback. The Kickers, thoroughly outplayed in the first half, trailed 1-0 at the break. They pulled even in the 63rd minute on a goal by David Bulow, another second-half substitute. Bulow found a soft spot in Charleston's defense on a corner kick by midfielder Michael Callahan. Prowling unattended in front of the Battery goal, he climbed to meet Callahan's kick and headed it into the gaping net.
Cowlishaw said his use of his reserves "is almost always based on feel. Sometimes it's based on information that has been stored away for years. Sometimes it's based on who was sharp and who wasn't" in pregame training sessions.
In this case, Cowlishaw said, he was not reluctant to use his reserves at a crucial juncture because he had watched them apply fierce pressure to the Kickers' starting 11 during a "very, very productive" week of practice.
Richmond (4-0), attacking into the teeth of a stiff wind, accomplished little in the first half. Thrown off stride by the weather and the physical tone of the game, the Kickers surrendered a goal on a header by Levi Coleman in the 15th minute. Charleston (2-1) could easily have had more.
The Kickers, who played their first four matches at City Stadium, will play four of their next five away from home.
Said Cowlishaw: "We'll have to be a lot stronger if we expect to win on the road."
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Charleston | 1 | 0 | — | 1 |
Richmond | 0 | 2 | — | 2 |
C: Coleman 1 (Peverely), 15th minute
R: Bulow 1 (Callahan), 63rd minute; Bangura 1 (Hertel), 90th minute
Shots: Richmond 13, Charleston 12
Saves: Keith Wiggans (C) 6; Ronnie Pascale (R) 4
Records: Richmond 4-0; Charleston 2-1. A: 1,833
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