The third time was the charm for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, who defeated the Charleston Battery 2-0 Saturday night at Al Lang Stadium. The Rowdies had lost the preview two meetings with the Battery this season.

Joe Cole opened the scoring in the 40th minute. Alex Morrell dribbled through the defense and was heading towards goal before Cole got a toe on the ball and poked it past Charleston goalie Alex Tambakis.

“Their goalkeeper was playing really well and it was really important to break the deadlock,” Cole said. “Martin Paterson was exceptional tonight. He made my goal, along with Alex of course. And he finished a great goal himself.”

Martin Paterson increased the Rowdies' lead to 2-0 when he turned on a Marcel Schäfer feed and fired the ball home in the 69th minute.

“To be honest, I think we dominated the game,” Paterson said. “They’re a good team. We respect them because they beat us twice, but we were adamant we were going to win tonight. (Against) good teams like them, you’ve got to put them away when you’ve got the opportunity. We converted two chances tonight, though we also missed a few.”

The Rowdies will play game two of their three-game home stand when they host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Al Lang Stadium on Saturday, July 29.