Oakland Roots walked out of the Coliseum with its first point of the season in a 0-0 draw with Las Vegas Lights. It was a defensive battle, resulting in Roots’ first clean sheet of the season, providing a moment of triumph after conceding nine goals through the previous three matches.
Roots had some of their best attacking moments late in the game. They nearly got on the board in the 69th minute when a corner kick found Kai Greene, who redirected the pass toward the net with an acrobatic volley out of the air, striking the top of the crossbar.
Oakland controversially had a goal wiped off in the 81st minute when EJ Johnson tapped in a potential goal, but he was called offside, and the goal was disallowed. It would have been interesting to see what would’ve resulted from a video review if the USL had the system in place.
Check everything Gavin Glinton and Tyler Gibson had to say in our Talking Points. Here are our top-10 player ratings from Saturday night.
Kendall McIntosh, 7.5
Kendall McIntosh earns our top spot for keeping the clean sheet. He stayed in a good position with three saves but, perhaps more importantly, closed down several passes into the box in close quarters.
McIntosh finished with two saves from shots in the box, completed two long passes, and recorded 11 recoveries.
Tyler Gibson, 7.3
Tyler Gibson had a good game in the midfield, making a big impact defensively, and also showed some progress offensively. On the defensive side, Gibson won two of three tackles, had one interception, and five recoveries. In the attack, he completed 2/3 long balls and four passes into the final third while winning five duels on the night.
Abdi Mohammed, 7
Abdi Mohamed did well stepping in for Camden Riley at right back. He was heavily involved with 87 total touches and two in the opponent’s box. Defensively, Mohamed had four clearances, blocked a shot, and had an individual clearance and recovery.
Neveal Hackshaw, 7
Neveal Hackshaw is Roots’ biggest passing distributor out of the centerback spot and is often the target of set pieces. He completed 16 passes into the final third, which is the highest mark for the club so far this season. He also won 3/5 total duels but completed just 6/17 of his long balls at 35 percent. It’s a stat on track with his season average thus far at
31.8 percent.
Wolfgang Prentice, 7
Wolfgang Prentice has been a positive this season thus far, earning his fourth appearance and third straight start after spending three years on loan in USL League One. His shot attempt in the 81st minute led to Johnson’s offside call. He took four touches inside the opponent’s box, completed four passes into the final third, won 4/5 tackles, and recorded a team-high of 10 duels won.
Baboucarr Njie, 6.8
Baboucarr Njie only played for 56 minutes but had some good moments in the buildup. He led the team with five tackles, won eight duels, took two touches inside the opponent’s box, completed six passes into the final third, and finished with five recoveries. But he drew a yellow and came close to being red-carded, putting him a tick below a seven.
Danny Gomez, 6.5
Danny Gomez continued his facilitating presence in the midfield and did well to start movement forward. He finished with five passes into the final third and went 2/2 on long balls. He also recorded seven recoveries, but losing all five of his duels holds him back.
Kai Greene, 6.5
With the clean sheet, all four members of the back line make the top-10 ratings. His shot hit the crossbar in the 69th, and he had some offensively strong stats with two touches inside the box and four passes completed into the final third.
Peter Wilson, 6.5
Peter Wilson really threw around his body and showed the physicality required to succeed as a striker in the USL Championship. Despite not receiving the penalty call in the 32nd minute, he was aggressive in attempting a play in a tight scenario. He created one scoring chance, had five touches in the box, completed a pass into the final third, and won five duels. He found possession in the final third multiple times but showed some disconnected moments in the buildup.
Panos Armenakas, 6
Panos Armenakas took Roots’ only shot on target in the 66th minute on a curling attempt from atop the box, which was something that shined in his film on previous stops in his career. He created one scoring chance, completed 2/2 long balls and five passes into the final third. He only completed 1/5 crosses and won 3/10 duels, giving him his lowest rating in all four appearances.