10-Man Hartford Athletic Hold On For Point Against Charleston Battery
A 2-0 lead slips away, but Latics manage a point against one of the Eastern Conferences top teams
A bright opening half was undone by an untimely red card for keeper Renan Ribeiro as Hartford Athletic let two points slip away on a warm night at Trinity Health Stadium. The opening exchanges of the game were cagey but the home side had the better of them and were on the front foot, doing more to possess the ball in the attacking third than they have done in some time and did not have to wait too long for the positive approach to bear fruit.
There was more than a hint of offside about Mamadou Dieng’s opener when he deflected a Michee Ngalina header into the back of the net but Hartford fans hungry for goals will not have worried much about it. Younes Boudadi delivered a dangerous cross into the box and Ngalina headed back across goal with the ball bouncing off Dieng and ito the back of the net to give the home side their first lead in nearly a month.
The Latics continued to play positively, and Anderson Asiedu blazed over from a promising position after Dieng seized on a misplayed ball in midfield before they doubled their lead in the 43rd minute. Dieng settled the ball nicely for Asiedu, who played Ngalina in behind and the forward cooly chipped the onrushing keeper to put Hartford 2-0 to the good.
It was a deserved half-time lead for Hartford who played a better 45 minutes of football than they have in some time, operating on the front foot and denying Charleston many meaningful opportunities in the attacking third.
Things got off to a bad start in the second half, however, with goalkeeper Renan Ribeiro accumulating two yellow cards in the space of a minute - both evidently for dissent - to leave Hartford facing nearly 40 minutes of game time against one of the top teams in the Conference with only ten men.
Charleston pulled one back in the 70th minute when the home side were unable to clear the ball, which bounced around in the box and ultimately found the feet of Nathan Dossantos, who tucked it away to reduce the deficit.
Despite playing down a man, the Latics continued to try and find ways forward and mustered a handful of decent opportunities, despite only managing two shots. The advantage began to tell, however, as Charleston poured things on attempting 22 shots in the second half alone and they finally got a leveller in the 90th minute when Nick Markanich slotted home his 16th goal of the season.
Hartford should be encouraged by their performance in the first half, even if the result will sting a little. With the Latics sitting four points out of the playoff positions as the second half of the season opens, the performance in the first half needs to become a blueprint as the team heads to Pittsburgh next weekend.