LOUISVILLE CITY FC 2

HARTFORD ATHLETIC 1

3-23-19

Luke Spencer’s magnificent strike and Sem de Wit’s unfortunate own goal were the difference as the scoreboard showed a welcome 2-1 home victory for the Purples, although it was a hard-fought battle against the team from the 3rd to smallest state and a match that brought up as many questions as it did answers for John Hackworth’s men.

The unavailability of the pairing of Speedy Williams (international duty for Jamaica) and Paulo Del Piccolo (on the bench, but carrying a niggle and rested as a precaution) forced changes to the central midfield and became a factor as the match progressed.

Hartford however started an identical lineup to that of their last match and if this display is anything to go by their spell propping up the Championship standings should be very temporary indeed..

City, matching the amazing Coopers’ tifo by respectfully wearing tribute armbands bearing the initials of fallen original ownership partner Wayne Estopinal, almost drew first blood when an Oscar Jimenez corner from the right was met ideally by Paco Craig but a defender stationed at the post headed clear.

Play swept quickly to the other end and from wide on the left striker José Angulo curved in a searching ball that eluded the City defense and found its way just beyond the far post with former Welsh youth international Jonathan Brown steaming to catch it. The English League veteran slid in and directed the ball back toward goal where ‘keeper Ben Lundt was spreading himself to make the stop but Oscar, arriving late, deflected it ahead of him and inside 6 minutes the expansion Hartford side had taken a shock lead on the reigning champs.

But The Boys In Purple (actually, road whites on the night) battled right back and in the 14th minute George Davis IV from the right swung one toward Magnus Rasmussen, a few paces inside the penalty area, with his back to goal. The Dane delicately dropped the ball back to captain-for-the-day Luke Spencer who connected with it as well as you possibly could, lashing a magnificent half volley low into the bottom corner, and giving Jacob Lissek in the Hartford goal no chance in the world of reaching it.

The plucky visitors, showing no signs of intimidation whatsoever, emerged again and minutes later ex St Louis man Tyler David took a shortish Paco Craig clearance and turned it inside to 21-year-old Danish center-back Nikolaj Lyngø who decided to go for a ‘USL Goal of the Season’, collecting in the center circle and crashing the ball off the crossbar with an absolute rocket.

Seconds later, City countered as Sean Totsch made a great intercept on a pass and fed George Davis IV who struck his shot narrowly wide.

Hartford then won a free kick 35 yards out which captain Phillip Rasmussen (another Dane but no relation) struck decently but safely above Ben’s bar.

Abdou Mbacke Thiam had earned a start after his excellent debut performance and winning goal as a sub at Atlanta the previous matchday and as early as the 25th minute almost repaid his boss’ faith in spades.

Possessing impressive mobility and a fine first touch in tight spaces, the rookie is fast staking a claim for a permanent starting role and here he deftly controlled a lofted ball to the wing from Niall McCabe, played a clever give-and-go with Magnus to get into the area and directed a curling right-footed drive toward Lissek’s far post but the ‘keeper, was equal to the effort and able to beat it away.

City were enjoying a superior sequence of play with the midfield ticking over well and in the 33rd minute they went ahead, although the goal came from an opportunistic effort rather than a team play.

With Hartford shifting forward, Lyngø was caught just his side of halfway, having the ball picked off him smartly by Bryan Ownby who accelerated toward Lissek and the Athletic goal with central defender Sem de Wit shadowing on his left. The Dutchman had Brian scouted well, shrewdly channeling him toward shooting with his less favored right. Magnus and Abdou were making themselves available beyond de Wit and, although one-on-one with Lissek, Brian took the unselfish albeit less optimal option, intending to slip the ball across to one of his supporting teammates. Fortunately – though not for de Wit who seemed to have done everything right – it caromed off the former FC Cincinnati man and past a wrong-footed Lissek.

Brian humbly, perhaps sheepishly, accepted his cohorts’ congratulations as City took the lead for the first time.

The first half finished with significant chances at both ends of the field.

Paco’s precision chip forward found Brian who in a split-second snatched it out of the air and played Abdou in behind, and face-to-face with Lissek. The Senegalese, however, was unable to get much purchase with his left from 8 yards out and the grateful ex Penn FC backup was able to smother out the attempt.

In the dying seconds, Sean took himself out of the play with an unwise header to the inside which was nabbed by Brown and played into the vacated zone. Angulo was in a wide position in the box but struck a superb shot and Ben had to get down to his left very rapidly to prevent a tying goal.

The whistle blew with John Hackworth’s side just about deserving their narrow lead.

Hartford, though down a goal, must have been greatly encouraged by how well they had competed with the champions in the first half and from the beginning of the reciprocal stanza they came out roaring and determined for an early equalizer.

The green clad Connecticuters had ceded their hosts a healthy deal of the possession in the first, but they immediately turned that around and very soon were attacking in waves, creating a number of chances from in and around the area and forcing a succession of corners.

Another Danish midfielder, 20-year-old Mads Jörgensen, began imposing himself threateningly, firing away without quite being able to zero in on the city goal.

In the 55th, Abdou’s attempt to spring a quick City counter was intercepted at midfield by de Wit, playing an exceptional second period, and the ball fell to Sebastian Dalgaard, the fourth Dane in the lineup, who threaded it through for Angulo to head off Alexis Souahy and fire from 9 yards and just to Ben’s right. Again, however, the tall German dropped sharply to paw it off and Alexis was able to play over the line for a corner.

2 minutes later and Angulo again found space, this time on a cross from Jörgensen, but he put his far post header wide.

Oscar went down with what appeared a serious muscle injury but after some moments of attention he shook it off and bravely returned to the field, joined by Lucky Mkosana substituting for Abdou.

Still the Athletic pressed forward and Oscar barely beat his man to a strong cross, flicking it on with his head for another corner.

The City defense had bent but not broken, having undergone quite the siege, and received some respite in the 66th when Magnus approached the Hartford area and sizzled just wide of Lissek’s left post.

Soon after, Magnus was felled by his countryman Jörgensen, who earned a caution for his effort, but after a short delay was able to recover and continue.

Hartford pushed forward again and, served by Brown, Angulo, from close in but on the angle, only managed to hit the outside netting.

Former Houston Dynamo winger Alan Dixon entered for Brown and nearly made a startling immediate impact when a far post cross by full-back Raymond Lee dropped right to him in prime position but, perhaps still getting his bearings, he injected no power into his header and Ben was able to handle safely high to his left.

Taylor Peay made his season debut, replacing Magnus, and over his 22 odd minutes on the field appeared calm and accomplished in the right back spot as Sean switched to a preferred central role alongside Paco and Alexis.

In minute 75, Jörgensen, undoubtedly the Athletic’s standout player on the night, won a free kick outside the area but fired well over, wasting the opportunity.

The Morados were countering sporadically and George, finally finding his shooting boots this season, came close twice, the first a shot from outside that was saved at the foot of the post by Lissek, after a set up by Taylor Peay.

From the resulting corner George went for it again, this time firing wide of the goal.

City had finally reasserted themselves to get back on an even keel and Niall skillfully wriggled into space, feeding Brian who moved it on to Lucky. His try from outside was deflected for a corner.

In the 88th, Luke showed up again and fired in another cracker that forced Lissek to struggle but manage to keep out.

Proceedings became heated on a pair of occasions as the clock ticked down, the firstly with Luke picking up the club’s sole yellow card of the campaign – have we been playing too … nice? – after an unnecessary moment of petulance, trying to disrupt a de Wit free kick deep in Hartford’s half, and secondly when Brian was brought down heavily by de Wit (who collected a card) and had to be restrained by teammates. The situations were well handled by referee Murphy with thankfully no further incidents.

In between times, de Wit headed over from yet another Jörgensen cross following a corner and the match ended with Hack and his local heroes likely breathing a huge sigh of relief.

It is difficult to remember when City were last pinned back and faced such incessant pressure as they did in the second half of this match, especially by such a less fancied side.

For a unit only newly thrown together, Hartford Athletic are a fairly impressive group. Coach Jimmy Nielsen who did good things over several seasons at OKC Energy, including a Division title in 2015, is the Danish connection and the 41-year-old will be confident of building upon promising performances like this one and continuing his success over in Group A of the Championship.

Coach Hackworth is commonly fulfilled and relaxed after a victory, but in the postmatch media huddle the strain was somewhat evident. “It was a good win. Not the way we wanted to play in the second half. We had to dig our heels in and fight through some tough moments”, he affirmed. “That’s not normally what we want to do, and we had a little problem possessing the ball early in the second half.”

He also noted that the lineup had to be shuffled and that he was, “Proud of the effort”, particularly that of the afore-unseen “Twin no. 8’s”, Magnus and Niall, and the staunch defensive shift the entire team put in. “That’s the second week in a row we’ve had to grind it out, really get tough in our defending”.

Goal hero and stand-in skipper Luke Spencer shared his praise for the (announced) 8,561 supporters who turned out at Slugger for the home opener, “Especially in the last 10 minutes when you’re trying to dig deep.”

Footnotes: It was announced by the club ahead of the game that 20-year-old depth midfielder Jose Carranza has departed Louisville City FC. It seems the severance was abrupt – likely frustration over a prospective lack of playing time – and Coach Hackworth was tight-lipped after the match, declining comment save to say, “I wish Jose the best, I think he’s a big talent and I hope he finds his way”, while confirming that there was no transfer involved.

LouCityKiwi’s RATINGS OUT OF 10:

Oscar El Mago: 6

Battled hard to get through the game after taking a few knocks. It was his man who scored Hartford’s goal and defensive coverage will be one of the watchwords going forward.

Paco: 7 1/2

Marshaled the back four under heavy duress at times and sent some classy balls forward to start attacks.

Alexis: 7

Fairly solid throughout and seeming to be improving after a slowish start the last two matchdays.

Sean: 6

Just not as comfortable on the right, and exposed at times by the pacy Athletic wide men. Likely relieved for the reassignment to center upon Taylor Peay’s arrival.

Ownby: 7 1/2

Still finding his shooting confidence but it was his brilliant steal at midfield and rollicking drive into the penalty area that caused the own goal and game winner, further demonstrating how critical he will be to Los Morados’ title defense this season.

Niall: 7

Once again asked to alter positions, doing his level best with the steep task of deputizing for the missing captain in a more vertical role than usual. Earned appropriate plaudits from his coach after the game for his utility.

Magnus: 7

The central midfielder drifted in and out of the game a little in his first start in more than 7 months, however completed 72 minutes, supplementing well on attack at times. Assisted on the first goal and unlucky not to collect further assists on a couple of other occasions.

Cuatro: 7 1/2

Certainly the best of his three matches to date, including playing a part in the first goal. Showed his touch is coming back, particularly when in the first half he actually nutmegged a Nutmegger!

Abdou: 7

Promising first half in his debut pro start, eliciting one nice save while missing on another great chance. Less effective in the second when Hartford took control of the middle and eventually subbed out.

Luke: 7

Spent a lot of the game working hard searching for a role, nevertheless covered himself in glory with his stunning, not-to-mention crucial, equalizer.

Lucky: 5 1/2

Unable to make much headway while not necessarily enjoying a lot of support as the team focused mainly on holding the lead after his entry.

Taylor Peay: 7 1/2

Bright Louisville debut coming in at right back. Mostly steady defensively and helpful when going forward.

Pat McMahon: N/A

Came on for an injury time cameo but did not record a touch on the ball.

“LOUISVILLE CITY FC NO. 1 ⭐️ OF THE GAME”

⭐️⭐️⭐️ BIG BEN LUNDT ⭐️⭐️⭐️: 8 1/2

For the second week running, it is hard to argue the immense value shown by the lofty rookie goalie.

Perhaps caught deep on the cross that led to the goal against – the shot, he had no chance with – however refused to be unnerved and subsequently stood strong, performing several pivotal stops.

Seriously looks to be locking down his place at starting goalkeeper.