Kevin Johnston

IndyStar correspondent

In most meaningful professional soccer matches, teams are only allowed three substitutions. In friendlies and exhibitions, teams can generally make six or more.

“Luckily” for the Indy Eleven, Saturday’s home match at Carroll Stadium was a meaningful one. And while It didn’t culminate in ideal fashion, things could’ve been worse.

With only three healthy field players available on the bench, Indy turned in a gritty performance before ultimately falling 2-0 to the San Francisco Deltas.

Justin Braun, Don Smart, Daniel Keller, Craig Henderson and Anthony Manning all sat with injuries. It’s been a common theme for Indy this season.

“The first half we didn’t show a mature side of our game,” said Eleven coach Tim Hankinson. “For me, we wasted the first half as far as building a foundation to the game. The second half was better in that regard. And because of that, we started to find some room around their box to get in on them.”

A 41st-minute header by Deltas striker Pablo Dyego opened the scoring. Midfielder Michael Stephens created space on the right side and served in a picture-perfect ball to the edge of the six-yard box that found Dyego’s forehead before finding the back of the net.

San Francisco’s second goal came from the same source, only this time via a superb individual effort. Dyego collected the ball on the left flank and dribbled between multiple Eleven defenders, then chipped goalkeeper Jon Busch to complete his brace.

Indy seized momentum for a good chunk of the second half and it appeared an equalizer was looming, but Dyego’s 87th-minute dagger erased any hope of a comeback.

“They’re a much better team than we are right now,” Hankinson said of the Deltas. “They impressed me.”

Right fullback Marco Franco had an up and down performance for the Eleven. He surged forward and helped the attack a few times, but also delivered a couple uncharacteristically poor passes to concede possession back to San Francisco.

Cory Miller made his first start for Indy since rejoining the team in August. Steady and consistent, his play was a bright spot for the home side. The 29-year-old veteran generally disrupted the Deltas’ offense as he anchored the Eleven back line with fellow center back Colin Falvey. Miller was his own worst critic though when it came to assessing his performance.

“The first 12 (passes) I just gave right to them,” he joked. “The first 20 minutes I was just getting the kinks out. After that I felt pretty confident — I felt fine. Once I got a few tackles in, as a defender, that’s all I needed.”

The Eleven will head south to face Jacksonville Armada FC next Saturday as they cling to their rapidly diminishing playoff hopes.