ORLANDO, Fla. – For Orlando City SC, Thursday night’s match with New York City FC was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Lions seemed out of sorts in the attack, notching just four off-target shots; in the final 45 minutes, City tallied 17 shots (five on-goal) while holding 56.7 percent possession.

That was the difference for Lions head coach James O’Connor in a 2-0 NYCFC (13-4-4, 43 points) win over Orlando City (7-13-1, 22 points) in front of 23,790 fans.

“… [For] me, there shouldn’t be a disparity between the first and the second half,” O’Connor said after the Lions second-straight loss. “I think when you look at the first half, for what we want, I don’t think that’s what we want.

“Second half, it’s a lot closer to what we’re looking at. We’re starting to get intensity; we’re starting to do the things that we want to do. There’s some lovely movement. Overall, through the 90 minutes, there’s some lovely passages of play.”

A relatively even battle turned into a game of catch-up for the Lions after New York City scored two late, first-half goals.

In the 40th minute, attacking midfielder Maximiliano Morález’s effort rewarded him with the first goal of the match. Lions left back Victor “PC” Giro attempted a clearance from inside the box, but the ball ricocheted off NYCFC attacking midfielder Rodney Wallace.

The ensuing deflection went toward goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr.’s goal, as the UCLA Bruins product made a diving stop to send the ball bouncing off the left post. Only Morález went for the ball, as he capitalized on the opportunity of Edwards Jr. lying on the ground for a 1-0 lead.

“I mean, the first goal, I think it’s a clearance that hits their lad and ricochets off the post and drops to their lad,” O’Connor recalled. “So, when you look at that, not quite sure what you can say to whoever’s clearing the ball.”

Less than a minute into first-half stoppage time, New York City doubled its lead. Morález was once again involved in the scoring effort, this time assisting on the goal. The Argentinian led NYC right back Anton Tinnerholm into the right part of the box where Tinnerholm evaded a sliding PC and finished a far-post attempt for the 2-0 lead.

“Yeah, I think every time we got on the ball, we turned it over a little too cheap,” midfielder Will Johnson said after the match. “So then you defend for long stretches, guys get a little bit tired, quality with the ball goes down, frustration builds, and you’re not able to ever step as high or as close to them as you want ’cause you’re lacking a little bit of energy, given how cheaply we gave away the ball in the first half, both of which eventually led to goals.”

Orlando City were not without their chances. Midfielder Yoshimar Yotún, who finished with a team-high seven shots (two on-goal), hit the crossbar in the first half, hit the post in the second half and added a long-range, on-target blast in the 63rd minute.

Center back Chris Schuler also added a late, near-goal chance. In the 78th minute, Schuler received the ball inside the left part of the box. He immediately took his chance at the goal, as his shot was deflected and bounced off the crossbar.

Late, second-half sub Josué Colmán also hit the crossbar from inside the left part of the box and near end line in the waning minutes of the match.

“We tried from every side. We couldn’t score,” Yotún said, translated from Spanish, after the loss. “We faced one of the best teams in the league, and the only way to turn this around is by working hard.”

O’Connor worked with a relatively new lineup, throwing PC into his first start since the 2018 opener against D.C. United and starting center back Shane O’Neill for the second-straight game.

PC played all 90 minutes of the loss, and O’Neill, who was playing his second game since 2015, was issued a red card in the 83rd minute.

“We’ve tried to be true to our word. We’ve tried to be fair with people, give them chances. I think that’s probably the biggest thing,” O’Connor said of PC. “[PC’s] been working hard, and he’s been trying in training to do some things to catch the eye. So, we felt he deserved a start tonight, and we thought he showed a lot of energy, considering he hasn’t played in a long time.”

Who’s Next?

Orlando City face a quick turnaround and take to the road on Sunday to face the Los Angeles Galaxy in a 9:30 p.m. matchup.

For more on the Lions, as they look to snap their two-game losing streak, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com, or you can tweet at him.