TULSA, OK—The Dallas Sidekicks scored early and often, and were too much for the Tulsa Revolution on Saturday night as the handed them a 14-5 drubbing in the Cox Business Center on Saturday night.
The Sidekicks roared out to a 4-0 lead before Michael Poneys punched in a penalty kick at the 13:45 mark to put the Revolution on the board near the end of the game’s first quarter.
Dallas put two more goals on the board before Tulsa would score again would score again off the foot of Bryant Scrapper to make the game a 6-2 affair in favor of the visitors.
The Revolution then scored four goals to end the first half with a decidedly lopsided 10-2 advantage.
Tulsa head coach Dave Yates advised his team in the locker room that it was important to return to the pitch in the second half and play with a sense of pride, and it must have worked because the Revolution woke up and erupted for three goals in the third period, Poneys second goal at 5:11 of the third quarter and a pair from Cristian Mata at 6:08 and 14:43.
It was enough to soften the edge of the eventual blowout, because interspersed between the Revs goals in the third quarter were two goals by the Sidekicks, both coming from Shaun David, who would have three goals in all. His effort was matched by Carlos Videla, who was the star for Dallas in the first half.
Add two goals from Freddie Moojen and marks from Jamie Lovegrove, Cody Ellis, Fabinho Leite and Gustavo Piedra to complete the goal scoring list for the visitors.
“I think we were extremely sloppy with our possessions.” Revolution head coach Dave Yates said after the match, “Obviously Dallas was well organized and well drilled. They have the ability to punish you when you make mistakes. We made too many mistakes we didn’t clean up defensively and before we knew it we were chasing the horse.”
“It’s a reality check for our guys. No game in this league is going to be easy. You gotta be here, on your game every single second every single game.” Coach Yates commented, “In the end it will be a test of character to see if we can rebound from this.”
Tulsa goalkeeper Richard Nolasco made 15 saves on 29 shots while Sagu, the Sidekicks goalie made 13 saves on 18 Revolution shots. The Revolution falls to 1-2 on the young season and the Sidekicks improve to 3-1.
The next home game for the Revolution with be a 7:05pm meeting with the Wichita B-52s at the Cox Business Center.