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By RODNEY PAGE
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 16, 2000
TAMPA -- Sometimes no matter which buttons a coach pushes, nothing seems to work. Then there are times like Saturday night.
In the Mutiny's 4-2 win over Colorado in front of 9,123 at Raymond James Stadium, Mutiny coach Tim Hankinson must have felt like a poker player holding a full house.
He took a gamble when he signed Senegalese striker Mamadou Diallo as a foreign allocation player. Diallo, who started the last two road games, came through with his first two Tampa Bay goals.
Hankinson gave defender Kalin Bankov his first start of the season in place of Chad McCarty, who is with the U.S. Olympic team, and Bankov scored. Forward Eric Quill started in place of Raul Diaz Arce, who is with the El Salvador national team, and Quill had a career-high three assists.
And late substitute Manny Lagos, who hadn't played in 348 minutes because of a right ankle sprain, scored an insurance goal in the 89th minute.
"I really decided last night to start Dominic (Kinnear) on the right side and move Kalin to the middle," Hankinson said. "I thought Dominic was a better choice since he'd played there all of last year. And Quilly's had a good week of practice. We decided on him around Wednesday or Thursday of last week."
Things didn't look bright early. Jorge Dely Valdes took a long free kick from Marcelo Balboa in the 13th minute and beat defender Joe Addo to the ball. That left Dely Valdes one-on-one with goalkeeper Scott Garlick, and Dely Valdes put a left-footer from 15 yards just inside the far post.
But a minute later, the Mutiny scored its first goal in 233 minutes and the first of its two off corner kicks. From the right side, Quill lofted a left-footed kick just outside the 8-yard box. As the ball descended, Diallo dove past a group of defenders and redirected a header past a diving David Kramer.
"Whenever you play in a new country, with a new team, the first goal is always the hardest to get," Diallo said. "Now that the first one is over with, there will be many more."
In the 21st minute, Quill again lofted a corner kick from the right. Bankov leapt unmarked and headed the ball into the open net from 8 yards.
"Fortunately we'd spent time working on our corner kicks this week because we felt that we'd gotten nothing from them so far," Hankinson said.
The Mutiny (3-2) kept up the pressure and broke through again in the 38th minute. Carlos Valderrama launched a pinpoint long ball to Quill on the left. Quill raced toward the goal, spotted Diallo in front of the net, and crossed just before defender Lance Key could get to him. Diallo had no trouble knocking the ball into the open net.
"The way I've been finishing, I thought I'd better pass," said Quill, who had only one goal and one assist in three seasons with Tampa Bay. "It feels good to play like this and get the monkey off my back."
Colorado scored on another Dely Valdes goal in the 58th minute, and had other chances to tie. But in the 89th minute, Lagos took a through ball from Valderrama and broke free 30 yards from goal.
His left-footer from 15 yards just beat Kramer and caught the right edge of the goal.
It was the first time since Sept. 27, 1998, against Miami that the Mutiny overcame a deficit to win.
The Mutiny has won all three home games and outscored opponents 10-3. But it hasn't scored in two road games, and Saturday's match is at Kansas City.
Colorado 1 1-2
Tampa Bay 3 1-4
First half -- 1, Colorado, Dely Valdes 1 (Balboa) 13th minute. 2, Tampa Bay, Diallo 1 (Quill) 14th. 3, Tampa Bay, Bankov 1 (Quill) 21st. 4, Tampa Bay, Diallo 2 (Quill, Valderrama) 38th.
Second half -- 5, Colorado, Dely Valdes 2 (Limpar, Agogo) 58th. 6, Tampa Bay, Lagos 2 (Valderrama), 89th.
Goalies -- Colorado, Kramer; Tampa Bay, Garlick.
A -- 9,123 (17,482).