For 89 minutes Saturday night in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Tulsa Roughnecks seemed headed to another tough-luck loss, but Gibson Bardsley had other ideas. Bardsley, who came on as a sub, netted a late goal that gave the Roughnecks a 1-1 tie with Arizona United and a valuable point on the road.
Until the late heroics, it was a game that resembled many early season matches for the Roughnecks. Tulsa produced several dangerous opportunities, but no goals.
The contest began promisingly with the Roughnecks applying most of the pressure in the first quarter of an hour. Right back Ryan Price had a good early run, but his cross was cleared from the goal mouth.
Kidd Nwabueze, making his first start of the season, also caused early problems for the Arizona backline. His run created a dangerous chance in which Arizona goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski took him out with a physical foul at the top of the box. There was no card issued on the challenge, but Kidd had to leave the match temporarily for treatment.
Shortly after the foul, Arizona took the lead on a rare mistake from Tulsa goalkeeper Zac Lubin. Lubin fumbled a shot from Jose Cuevas, and Jonathan Topp was there for the rebound and an easy goal that put United in front 1-0.
Tulsa pushed forward in search of an equalizer, but a shot from Laurie Bell was easily saved by Woszczynski in the 27th minute, and another effort from Kidd in minute 38 was wide.
Lubin saved a header from the dangerous Long Tan two minutes before halftime to keep the deficit at a single goal.
Entering the locker room, the Roughnecks held a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks but trailed by a goal on the scoreboard.
The second half started slowly for Tulsa with United controlling the early action. The best chance came on a header from Tyler Ruthven that went just wide.
Sammy Ochoa had an opportunity for his first goal of the season in the 67th minute for the Roughnecks, but his right-footed effort was tipped over the bar by Woszczynski.
Five minutes later, coach David Irving turned to his bench, bringing on subs Adam Black and Bardsley, and the moves paid immediate dividends. Black had a shot go wide and another free kick rolled into the arms of Woszczyznski.
The equalizer finally came in the 89th minute. Bardsley hustled to the end line to keep a ball in play and turned past his defender. In one-on-one against Woszczynski from a tough angle on the left side, Bardsley made no mistake in beating the keeper to the far post for his second goal of the year.
Tulsa was not content with the draw and nearly snatched the full three points in stoppage time. Just seconds from the final whistle, a header from substitute Andy Lorei rolled just past the far post to keep the score line at 1-1.
The Roughnecks, who entered the match leading USL in shots per game, out-shot Arizona 13-12. Five of the 13 shots were on goal, compared to three for United.
With the draw, the Roughnecks now have five points on the season (1-3-2) after six matches.
Tulsa will continue its five-game road trip with a match Wednesday night in Los Angeles against the Galaxy II. The match can be heard live on ESPN Radio AM 1300 in the Tulsa area. Kickoff is slated for 9:30PM CDT.
