Written By: Brendan Markey

The Bobcats continued their strong start to the season with a big 5-1 win over Club De Lyon. This marked the first-ever encounter between the two teams, given this is Club De Lyon's inaugural season in NISA.. Head Coach Alex Kao and his players were eager to play as they had been on a two week hiatus from having a match. 

The Bobcats wasted no time in the match as Darwin Espinal opened the scoring in the 5th minute with a nice far post finish assisted by James Filerman. Espinals second goal of the match came in the 29th minute after a composed finish with his left foot, on a pass from Jack Villatoro. 

Although both the Bobcats and Club De Lyon traded shots near the end of the half, the score remained 2-0 at the end of the first half. The bobcats chose to make three substitutions at halftime, as Abdul Kooistra, Malik Thom, and Drew Wivell all subbed in. In the 56th minute, Club De Lyon cut the deficit to one after a nice one time volley by Yuki Shibata, assisted by Victor Rojas. 

Immediately right after the goal, the Bobcats made another sub as Marcos Sotarello came into the game for Gavin Shiels. Both Malik Thom and Marcos Sotarello made an impression off the bench in the second game as they combined for the third goal in the 63rd minute, as Thom scored his first bobcats goal off some great build up play and an assist from Marcos Sotarello, to make it 3-1. 

Ten minutes later, the Bobcats extended the lead to 4-1 after a rocket from the top of the box scored by Iker Bustamante, off an assist by Pierre Richard. The Bobcats were playing exceptional, but they were not done yet as Michael Akinkoye got the 5th goal of the night for the bobcats in the 81st minute. 

The match ended as a 5-1 win for the bobcats, and another big three points, to take the bobcats up to second place in the NISA standings. 

The Bobcats will seek to continue their strong form as they travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday April 25th, to face off against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the third round of the US Open Cup, for a 7pm kickoff streamed live on B/R Football’s YouTube and the Bleacher Report App.

Match Details:

Maryland Bobcats FC:

Sutton (GK); Villatoro(45'), Filerman, Mansour (45'), Forka; Shiels (58'), Akinkoye, Richard; Espinal, Bustamante, Mbouombouo (77')

Substitutions: Hollinger (GK), Solomon (77'), Kooistra (45'), Thom (45'), Sotarello (58'), Wivell (45'), Gonzalez, Brown, Pritchett

Goals: Espinal (5' 29'), Thom (62'), Bustamante (73'), Akinkoye (81')

Bookings: Villatoro (30'), Mansour (44')

Club De Lyon FC: 

Nelson (GK); Cruz (81'), Mateus, Campbell, Clement, Ortiz; Rojas, Dopazo, Yriarte; Blanco, Shibata (74')

Substitutions: Guzman (81'), Rodriguez Serna, Hernandez (74')

Goals: Shibata (56')

Bookings: Cruz (52'), Mateus (67')