ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Ten-man Red Bulls II fell to the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 3-2, at Al Lang Stadium in Wednesday night.

Despite the loss, NYRBII (12-13-1, 41 points) still held onto the last United Soccer League playoff place while the Rowdies (49) climbed to 13-7-10.

Jordan Scarlett was issued his second yellow card in the 63rd minute forcing NYRB II to play down a man the rest of the way.

The visitors struck first in the 16th minute of as Stefano Bonomo buried a pass from Vincent Bezecourt past goalkeeper Matt Pickens. The goal was Bonomo’s seventh this season and the assist was Bezecourt’s 10th.

Tampa Bay struck back two minutes later with Joe Cole finding the equalizer.
The Rowdies added two goal more before the end of the half, both scored by Marcel Schafer.

NYRB II pulled one back in the 54th as Junior Flemmings recorded his team-leading ninth goal finishing a long ball over the top from Arun Basuljevic.

Goalkeeper Rafael Diaz kept the deficit at one in the 58th minute making a diving save on a 1v1 with Cole.

NYRB II will play Orlando City B at Orlando City Stadium Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary:

New York: Stefano Bonomo 16th minute, Junior Flemmings 54th minute

Tampa Bay: Joe Cole 18th minute, Marcel Schafer 25th and 45th minute

Discipline:

New York: Jordan Scarlett 50th minute & 63rd minute (ejected), Junior Flemmings 84th minute

Tampa Bay: Martin Vingaard 23rd minute

New York: Diaz; Kutler, Schmoll, Scarlett, Abidor, Shigenobu (Florian Valot, 84th minute), Basuljevic, Bezecourt, Lewis (David Najem, 68th minute), Flemmings, Bonomo (Ben Mines, 75th minute)

Tampa Bay: Pickens; King, Gorskie, Collins, Portillos, Vingaard, Cole (Keith Savage, 87th minute), Schafer, Morrell (Darwin Jones, 76th minute), Guenzatti (Walter Restrepo, 90th minute), Hristov

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.