Hartford Athletic are back in action on Saturday night as they take on Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium. The Latics are coming off a disappointing 1-nil loss to Louisville City in the USL Cup final and they will need to pick themselves up and prove their character in this one, with three critical points on offer in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Reflecting on that Cup final loss, Hartford manager Brendan Burke was characteristically frank: “We just didn’t show up.”

In some sense, Hartford did show up - it outshot City 17-5 and had five times as many touches in the opposition box but also reverted to blunt form from earlier in the season, putting just one shot on target and failing to capitalize on other good opportunities. Burke elaborated on the point to the Blazing Musket this week.

“We didn't arrive in zone one. We it's what we talked about all year long. You know the from the penalty spot down, there should be 3 bodies arriving off the ball in those spaces. I look at just the two balls Seb [Anderson] laid across the six yard box. No one even got close to the six yard box in those instances and there should be 3 players there, with at least two of them digging themselves out of the net because they ran straight through the back of it.”

That explains some of the how, but it doesn’t really get at the why. While Hartford have rarely been as fluid this season as last – it has lately been managing to scrap out wins and draws by showing up in the right spots at the right time. When a team misses their spots in a big game like this, it should inspire reflection, which Burke highlighted as well.

“Well, you got to look in the mirror and we did that. You have to be brutally honest with each other. If that was in preparation, if we were tight, that's my fault. If we were tight coming out of the gate, we have to look at our preparation. We have to honestly assess what put us in a position to not be showing up in Zone 1, to get our set pieces wrong after we spent an entire training day on set pieces. I don't have an answer for that right now, but those questions we asked. Those are hard conversations. They aren't for everyone.”

This week in training will perhaps have given Burke some indication of who is ready for those hard conversations, but Saturday night’s game will make things even clearer. The players will need to show their character, and they’ll have to do it in a difficult environment, against a difficult team.

Pittsburgh are one of the toughest teams to play against in the Eastern Conference, a side that is always happy with a low-scoring game. The Riverhounds sport one of the best scoring defenses in the entire USL Championship, and are replicating the style that saw them win the league last season, which score them concede zero goals in four playoff games.

They’re also replicating the other side of that form, which is simply not scoring. That same playoff run saw them score just one goal, and the Hounds are scoring barely a goal a game in 2026. They’ve been held scoreless in four of their last 10 game, and have scored just one goal in four others, and are coming off the back of consecutive 1-nil defeats. History suggests that Pittsburgh will be happy with a low-scoring game, content to let the defense do most of the work and scratch out one goal from limited opportunities.

At the same time, this game gives both teams a lot to play for. With just three games remaining, a loss for Pittsburgh would almost certainly close the door on the possibility of a home playoff game. And while Hartford have a game in hand, it can hardly afford to lose either, with Rhode Island FC making a push for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference as well, something Burke emphasized this week as well.

“We're at the business end of the season, so every game is monumental and it's really tight in the middle of the table. And really you're playing for 4th place right now. Everyone is. We are, Rhode Island are, Louisville certainly is a team that could take that spot. So these are all big games in my mind, and we have all our energy focused on getting a home playoff game.”

Losing a final is always disappointing. You never know when you’re going to be back there. But there’s still everything to play for this season, and Hartford need to bounce back on Saturday night and show that it is ready to focus on getting to the playoffs.