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The Fort Lauderdale Strikers (5W-4T-5L) defeated the Carolina RailHawks (4W-5T-5L) 2-1 at Lockhart Stadium on Saturday night. Strikers midfielder Mark Anderson extended his team lead in goals by scoring twice in the match. Anderson now has seven goals on the season equaling his number of starts for the Strikers. Carolina’s goal came from former Striker Mike Palacio late in the second half. The Strikers pass the RailHawks to move into fifth place in the NASL standings with 19 points.

“I thought getting the goal early and just before the half really gave our guys a lot of belief they could come out of halftime and close the game out,” said Strikers head coach Daryl Shore.

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The goals came from Strikers midfielder Mark Anderson in the 5^th minute of the match when his shot toward the far post took a deflection off a RailHawks defender and inside the near post. Strikers forward Darnell King was credited with the assist on the goal. Anderson scored again during stoppage time when a broken play inside the Carolina penalty area caused the ball to fall to defender Scott Lorenz who passed to Anderson for the 2-0 lead.

“Mark’s a special player, he’s not only good at scoring goals, he also sets up his teammates,” said Shore. “Mark gets what he deserves because he works so hard for it.”

The only goal from the second half came at the 82^nd minute mark when Nick Zimmerman pulled one back for the RailHawks after a cross hit the post and bounced to the wide open midfielder.

 Note: Tonight’s match officials were FIFA certified from the CONCACAF region. Referee Kevin Morrison and assistant referee Dion Neil were part of an NASL pilot program which began with this match.