OAKLAND, Calif. — It wasn’t the prettiest, but Phoenix Rising found a comeback victory in their first trip to the Coliseum against Oakland Roots.

Morey Doner gave the hosts a first half lead, but precision strikes from Ihsan Sacko and Charlie Dennis after the break gave Phoenix the full share of the spoils.

Shots on goal? Another slow start

It hasn’t been easy as of late for Phoenix Rising in front of goal in league play.

Against Lexington, Rising didn’t record a single shot on target. A trip to face Oakland Roots had to see that change.

Early in the match, Jearl Margaritha had his effort on a breakaway hit the woodwork, but the team did little to threaten Kendall McIntosh through until the break.

When Ihsan Sacko finally got a shot on target for Phoenix Rising in the 56th minute, the team had gone over three hours of league play without an effort on target.

Oakland Roots struck first

Instead of Phoenix Rising edging in front through Jearl Margaritha, it would be Oakland Roots to take the lead through Morey Doner.

“It’s not the type of goal you want to concede, obviously,” Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah said. “I think we could have done a better job at it, but in my optic, he mishit the ball. It could have gone anywhere.”

Several other chances went begging for an Oakland Roots side that put up a total expected goals tally of 1.77, including big opportunities for Peter Wilson and José Sinisterra that failed to force Patrick Rakovsky into saves.

Charlie Dennis turns the game on its head

Phoenix Rising made one change at the break, but it was the unplanned change shortly after that really turned this game around.

With Xian Emmers going down injured, former Oakland Roots player Charlie Dennis stepped up to make his mark.

“He did his job,” Kah said. “He was wonderful offensively, and he was wonderful defensively.”

Dennis would score the winning goal from distance, but also contributed effectively in a different role to that we’ve become accustomed to seeing him play for Phoenix. Due to necessity, Kah set him up in central midfield instead of out on the wing.

“We said that from the beginning we know that Charlie can play midfield,” the coach said. “We know Charlie can play the role that we have given him [on the wing]. Having players that are versatile and are able to play in different roles is very important, and today he showed that.”

Owain’s Take

And… breathe (again).

At half-time, Phoenix Rising felt like a team on course for a repeat performance of the week prior. By full-time, they came away with a comeback win on the road.

It wasn’t pretty. Much as with Lexington last week, Oakland Roots had chances to bury this game before Rising even found the back of the net. They didn’t do so. A better team would have. Rising’s goals, too, came not from careful chance creation, but from individual moments of brilliance from distance.

On its face, the reliance on good fortune and a poor quality of opponent to come away with a result isn’t a positive thing. Hoping that your opponent misses a few sitters while your own side puts forward multiple candidates for goal of the week isn’t a strategy so much as it is a desperate prayer. The poor effort defensively, especially, shows this team has a lot of work still to do.

But a win is still a win, especially on the road, and while Rising’s goals were moments of brilliance, they answer some questions about this team as well. At the start of the year, we weren’t sure who the players that would pick this team up and will them over the line really were. Ihsan Sacko showed he could get things going at times in the second half, and Charlie Dennis followed up his one-man show in Texoma with another example of him being a difference maker for Phoenix.

So, it’s a mixed bag. There’s still things to think about, but Phoenix Rising will at least be happy to have three more points on their flight back home.