Hartford Athletic stumbled on the road on Friday night as they were pegged back 2-0 by FC Tulsa.

It was a frustrating night at the office for Hartford, who were largely on top throughout the game, but were unable to find a way through and were undone by a Tulsa team that made the most of limited opportunities on the night.

The Latics were on the front foot in the opening quarter of an hour, outshooting Tulsa 4-0, with their best chance coming as Jordan Scarlett rattled the crossbar in just the 4th minute. After those early chances, though Tulsa started to grow into the game, although they struggled to manufacture much in the way of meaningful opportunities.

Truthfully, though, after the first 15 or so minutes, the sting really went out of the game, with neither team really managing much in the way of a chance in the final third, and it looked like the game might head to the break deadlocked at nil-nil.

That wasn’t to be, though. Despite Hartford’s overall edge in attack, it was Tulsa who took the lead, with a penalty given in first-half stoppage time after Samuel Careaga handled the ball in the box. Antony Siaha guessed right on the ensuing penalty, but Jaime Webber’s effort snuck under his glove and gave the hosts the lead.

Hartford did have a good chance to equalize almost immediately, however, after a clever free kick routine put Michee Ngalina in behind, but Tulsa keeper Alex Tambakis made himself big and closed down the effort, although he was left gasping for air after taking the ball directly to the chest. That was it for the first half, though, and the teams headed down the tunnel with Hartford needing to find a reply.

The second half largely followed from the first half, with neither team managing to manufacture a truly good look at goal, although once again it was Hartford who just about had the balance of play. 

Despite that slight edge, though, it was Tulsa who doubled the lead just past the hour mark, as Alonzo Clarke scored after an inviting cross from Bruno Lapa. The chance came after a long throw that found it’s way to Lapa in the Hartford box, and his ball back across the area found an unmarked Clarke who headed home to increase the hosts’ advantage.

Up to that point, Hartford had an 11-5 advantage in shots, but the two best chances on the night had fallen to Tulsa, and it had made both count. The goal did prompt Brendan Burke to go to his bench, with Emmanuel Samadia making his season debut in place of TJ Presthus, and Sadat Anaku replacing Barry Coffey. Andres Hernandez joined the fray shortly there after, with Beverly Makangila making way.

With only 20 minutes to go and a two-goal deficit to make up, Hartford needed to go through the gears, but struggled to find a way through a disciplined Tulsa defense. For a team that isn’t really built to build up play and attack a packed defense, it was a tall order, and the Latics were certainly struggling with it. And as the minutes ticked by, it was clear that the game was exactly where Tulsa wanted it, with very little at all happening on the pitch.

That was largely how the game wound down. Hartford did have a few efforts on goal, but largely failed to test Tambakis in the Tulsa goal but there was one more twist in the tale, as the frustration boiled over and Samuel Careaga was shown a straight red late in second-half stoppage time.

Hartford will now need to regroup and continue the search for attacking punch, probably without Careaga as they head home to host New Mexico United next Saturday night.