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In Williams’ Absence, Battery Forge Ahead

By CHARLIE CORR - charlie.corr@uslsoccer.com, 05/06/17, 9:02PM EDT

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Charleston grabs sole possession of Eastern Conference lead


Photo courtesy of Charleston Battery

CHARLESTON, S.C. – One man doesn’t make a team, but when that one player is responsible for 40 percent of the club’s scoring, a number of pieces need to pick up the slack.

Charleston’s leading goal scorer Romario Williams wasn’t available Saturday, dealing with an illness all week that he wasn’t included on Head Coach Mike Anhaeuser’s 18-man game day roster.

The Battery found just enough in the attack to garner a 1-0 win against Bethlehem Steel FC at MUSC Health Stadium. Ataulla Guerra’s 17th-minute goal off of a Heviel Cordoves redirected header assist was the difference

With the Tampa Bay Rowdies earlier drawing against Ottawa Fury FC, Charleston (5-1-1, 16 points) moved into sole possession of the Eastern Conference lead, two points ahead of the Rowdies.

“It was a great performance from all the guys,” Guerra said. “Maybe the ball didn’t bounce our way once or twice, but we showed great character and will to grind out this result. I’m happy to get the goal, but even more happy to get the three points and keep us at the top of the league.”

The circumstances were a positive overall in the Battery’s eyes, but Anhaueser and the club know they could have potentially put Saturday’s match away early.

“We started well in the beginning of the game, but once we got the goal they gave us a few chances to put the game away and we didn’t take them,” Anhaueser said. “We were missing the final ball in the attacking third a little bit tonight, which can cause a problem.

“Sometimes you have to grind results out like this. They (Bethlehem) did a good job defensively, so in the end you take the three points and hope next week we can play a little better.”

The Battery posted their third clean-sheet victory of the year, and with only a one-goal cushion, this ended up being the toughest of them all. Earlier in the season the Battery topped the Charlotte Independence 2-0 and had that robust 5-0 victory against the Rochester Rhinos.

“I think a lot of their chances we could have prevented,” Anhaeuser said of Bethlehem. “We gave them four or five chances that we didn’t need to. We had a few breakdowns defensively where we were a bit indecisive and it caused us a problem.

“We’ll take the shutout and get back to work this week and try to settle things down a bit.”