(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Match Recap

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando City B’s 12-game unbeaten streak was sullied by the bottom-dwelling Richmond Kickers Thursday afternoon at Orlando City Stadium in front of a depleted audience.

“Now it’s how can we rebound from this quickly,” OCB head coach Anthony Pulis said after the match. “‘Cause we’ve obviously been on a great run. At some point, it was going to come to end. I was hoping it wasn’t going to come to an end, but it’s obviously done that today. The biggest disappointment for me is the level of performance. The first 60 minutes was just poor as we’ve been probably since I’ve been in charge of this team.”

OCB’s defense faltered in the waning minutes of the first half, allowing goals in the 40th minute and stoppage time of the first half. The first goal came off a free kick that began deep down the left flank and was delivered to the far post. After appearing like it would go too far, the ball was headed back into the box to Mikey Minutillo, who headed it in for the 1-0 lead.

Just seconds after three minutes of stoppage time were announced for the first half, OCB allowed a second goal. Richmond’s second scoring effort also came from a free kick. Sunny Jane, who assisted on the first goal, struck it past a rooted Jake Fenlason to double the Kickers’ lead.

“We were really disappointed in the team today,” team captain Lewis Neal said after the game. “We let ourselves down massively. We set really high standards over [this] last half of the season, especially these last 12 or 13 games that we’ve played, and the standards that we played at today were nowhere near what we set ourselves, and we know that… It’ll be a little bit of back to the drawing board and try and pick up and go off on another road again.”

Pulis’ side, which had out-scored opponents 14-6 in its 12-game unbeaten streak, was limited in the first half, tallying just four shots (one on goal) with center-back Fernando Timbó’s shot being the lone on-target attempt. OCB shot more in the second half, taking eight shots (two on goal), but still couldn’t score.

Some of OCB’s best efforts came in the final minutes of the final half. First, in the 70th minute, forward Hadji Barry found right-back Zachary Ellis-Hayden down the right flank. Two touches and one evaded defender later, Ellis-Hayden took one of OCB’s two on-target shots in the second half with a left-footed strike.

Forward Albert Dikwa took OCB’s final on-target shot in stoppage time of the second half. Dikwa also helped produce a near goal-scoring chance when he evaded a defender down the right flank. He subsequently centered the ball to Barry, who whiffed. With the ball still in play, second-half substitute Joe Gallardo gathered the ball and took two too many touches toward the middle of the box and was dispossessed.

Man of the Match: Sunny Jane

Jane recorded a game-high four shots (one on goal) and capitalized on his lone on-goal effort with a free-kick score in stoppage time of the first half. He also completed 88.6 percent of his 44 passes and drew two fouls.

What’s next?

OCB will travel to face Saint Louis FC on Sept. 16 at 8:30 p.m.

Highlights

9′ | Hadji over the bar on a header! What a ball from Scott Thomsen on the left side… 0-0 | #ORLvRIC pic.twitter.com/4XKSyL3qQG — Orlando City B (@OrlandoCityB) September 7, 2017

14′ | Timbo doesn’t care if you think he’s out of range… On target from 40 out! 🎯 0-0 | #ORLvRIC 📺 https://t.co/VzJAdKXIAe pic.twitter.com/r99oSauhx2 — Orlando City B (@OrlandoCityB) September 7, 2017

29′ | Nice reflex save from Jake Fenlason to see off a tricky ball into the box. 0-0 | #ORLvRIC pic.twitter.com/OifjO1Vtgl — Orlando City B (@OrlandoCityB) September 7, 2017

NDR Notes

OCB’s unbeaten streak of 12 games was broken with the loss to Richmond.

Midfielder and OCB’s leader in assists Pierre da Silva was suspended for the loss to Richmond.

Scoring

Time Team Goal-scorer Assisted by 40’ Richmond Kickers Mikey Minutillo Mallan Roberts, Sunny Jane 45’+1 Richmond Kickers Sunny Jane n/a

Statistics and Starting Lineups

Goals Assists Shots Shots on Goal Possession % Orlando City B 0 0 12 3 45.7% Richmond Kickers 2 2 11 7 54.3%

Orlando City B starting XI (4-2-3-1): Jake Fenlason (GK); Kevin Alston, Fernando Timbó, Conor Donovan, Zach Ellis-Hayden; Lewis Neal (C), Jordan Schweitzer; Scott Thomsen, Danny Deakin, Austin Martz; Hadji Barry

Richmond Kickers starting XI (4-2-3-1): Travis Worra (GK); Braeden Troyer, William Yomby (C), Mallan Roberts, Alex Lee; Yudai Imura, Oscar Umar; Luiz Fernando, Sunny Jane, Matthew Bolduc; Mikey Minutillo

For more on OCB, as they look to push into the playoffs for the second time in team history, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.