By Jon Johnson
On a night the Southern Conference championship banner was raised in celebration of last year’s remarkable season and the team’s first mascot “Fuego” the dragon was unveiled, Dothan United showed why it may have the caliber of team for another title run during a 2-1 comeback win over Montgomery United FC Saturday night at Rip Hewes Stadium.
Shortly after the 90th minute, Tito Porter scored the winning goal in the opening seconds of the five-minute stoppage period and the Dragons’ defense held on to record the win in what was the regular-season opener in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 3,300.
Coming down on the right side, Porter received a crossing pass from Ryan Holmes and then rocketed a low shot into the net for what proved to be the game winner.
“Ryan had the ball and I had space wide open,” Porter explained. “All he had to do was get me the ball and I had a one-on-one with the defender. At this point of the game with that space, I just shot hoping for the best and it went in.”
Porter battled cramps in the final minutes and had to exit the game, but was feeling plenty good about things when the final whistle blew.
“The crowd is great,” Porter said. “All the people have our back. We didn’t start the best way in the game, but the people were there yelling for us … giving us the energy to come back.”
Montgomery held a 1-0 advantage at halftime after Geraldo Neto scored at the 15:56 mark of the opening 45 minutes.
Dothan tied it at 1-1 when Oskar Kaufmann scored off an assist from Josh Hallenburger, who nicely centered a pass to set up the goal at the 55:41 mark.
Late in the match, the Dragons’ defense dodged several bullets in succession when two Montgomery shots in a row hit off the crossbar, the second at the 82:19 mark.
But the night ended with a huge celebration for the home team and its fans, completed by a fireworks show.
It marked the first regular season win for new Dothan head coach Ricky Davey after the Dragons won two home exhibition matches.
Davey was impressed by the enthusiasm of the home fans.
“We needed a 12th man in the crowd,” Davey said. “They gave us that little extra juice we needed and I think you saw it kind of between 70 and 82-83 minutes when we started to die a little bit. They were able to get through thanks to these guys (fans). Incredible crowd tonight.”
While Montgomery United had the lead going into the second half, Dothan showed plenty of fight in battling back for the South Central Division win.
“Credit to these guys for the effort,” Davey said. “They continued to play; they continued to do things we’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks. I’m a big believer in you create your own luck and I think we did that tonight. Unbelievable effort from the guys.”
Davey decided to sub in a couple of players to begin the second half in Alec Palanjian and Josh Salas with hopes of giving the team a bit of a spark.
“Because of the slow start, we needed to change a little bit,” Davey said. “We needed to be a little more stronger and physical … we needed to earn the right to play the game of soccer tonight. That group in the second half did that.
“Credit to the guys who did come off the field. They took it well, they supported their teammates, and that’s not easy on an opening night. But it gave us what we wanted and we got the result that we wanted.”
The Dragons’ defense was solid throughout against a Montgomery offense which displayed plenty of talent.
“Strong effort,” Davey said of his unit. “I don’t want to say this loosely, but I think they thought it might be a little bit easier than what it was. That’s the feeling I got starting the game.
“But there are no easy games … you have to earn the right. I think they (Montgomery) hit the crossbar once or twice in the second half, but we were able to keep it out and keep going and find that winner.”
The game featured two brothers in goal – fan-favorite Yago Darub for Dothan and his younger sibling, Victor Darub for Montgomery. It was the first time the two had played against each other as professionals.
“He’s younger than me, but I’ve got to show him who deserves to win,” Yago said with a smile. “The oldest brother got it this time.”
The Dothan goalkeeper was proud of how the team fought back after falling behind.
“I’m so happy,” Yago said. “We started the game not playing really well, but we changed the scenario to get the win.”
Dothan plays its first road game at East Atlanta FC next Saturday night before returning home to take on the Birmingham Legion on Wednesday, May 27, at 7 p.m.
