El Paso Locomotive came to Reno on Saturday. El Paso was coming off of a win against Fresno. Reno was coming off of a loss against Salt Lake City. El Paso is currently sitting in 8th place.

Pregame thoughts

I wanted to see a win. I wanted them to win their last home game of the regular season. I wanted them to finish the season strong. That hasn’t happened. Reno has been playing inconsistent these last couple of months. I was thinking that if they won at least it would be one last home win before the playoffs.

What happened in the first half?

Early on El Paso was in control. They were getting all of the offensive chances. JT had to come up big a couple of times.

El Paso would get a yellow in the 10’ minute. The card was given to Yuma Monsalves.

Reno would get a yellow card in the 15’ minute. That card was given to Benjamin Galindo.

Reno would come close to scoring in the 19’ minute. It was sent into the box and Corey Hertzog headed it just wide of the net.

El Paso would come close to scoring in the 33’ minute. JT made a solid diving save off of a shot that came from inside the box.

What happened in the second half?

Reno got a chance in the 53’ minute. Eric Calvillo got the ball after it was put across the box. He took a shot but it was straight at the goalie and didn’t challenge the keeper.

In the 54’ minute Alexy Bosetti received a yellow card for El Paso.

Reno would get another chance in the 68’ minute. Musovski would get the ball off of a cross and would head it just wide.

El Paso would get another yellow card in the 84’ minute. This one would be awarded to Guillermo Diaz.

Reno would get a yellow card in the 89’ minute. Thomas Janjigian would get that one.

After match thoughts

This game was fairly uneventful. Both teams traded chances back and forth. El Paso started the game off strong and was really in control for the first five minutes. Reno picked up the energy in the last five minutes of the match. Reno was lucky to get away with a draw. El Paso had all of the better chances. Reno’s defense wasn’t challenging for the ball. The team relied way to heavily on JT to save them. Until the last five minutes of the game, Reno didn’t play with any energy. They weren’t moving the ball up the field quickly. Nobody on offense wanted to shoot the ball. They passed it way too much. The wingers on offense also turned over the ball way too easily. It was like the only person who showed up for the match was JT.

Looking at the playoffs there isn’t a lot of hope coming from the fans. A lot of the fans think that will be one and done. Some of the fans are suggesting that we won’t have a home match. While I guess that is possible I think that that’s highly unlikely. The way we played in this match doesn’t give me a lot of hope. If we come out and do play like this in the playoffs we won’t win. There’s no way we will win if we’re not shooting the ball enough and were not challenging on defense. There is a lineup within this group that is capable of winning a playoff match. The question is will we see that lineup or will we continue to see undeserving San Jose players (who play like they don’t want to win) taking playing time away from our top players?

Next match

The final leg of the Silver State Cup will take place next Saturday, October 12, 2019. Game time is set for 7:30 in Las Vegas. Reno won the first leg earlier this season. Reno swept the series last season. Las Vegas has not been officially eliminated from playoff contention yet. This is also the second to last game of the regular season for Reno.