Hartford Athletic Battle Detroit City to Scoreless Draw
A clean sheet and a point were the Latics' rewards for a solid defensive performance, even as the attack continues to misfire
Hartford Athletic kept their third consecutive clean sheet at Trinity Health Stadium on Saturday night, fighting visitors Detroit City to a scoreless draw. Combined with Tampa Bay’s 3-1 loss to Charleston, the result was enough to lever the Latics off the very bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference, moving them level on points with the Rowdies with a game in hand.
In the early stages of the game, Hartford were well on top, bossing possession through the opening 15 minutes or so, and generally having more of the ball throughout the first half. It was an uncharacteristic situation for a team that had the lowest possession rate in the USL Championship entering the night, but the Latics failed to do much with the ball, mustering zero shots through the first half and managing only four touches in the opposition penalty area into the bargain.
Hartford manager Brendan Burke laid some of the blame for the inability to convert possession into chances on the officiating.
“You know, it was mismanaged again,” he said. “So it was very choppy. We started the game very brightly. We were good on the ball, clean on the ball and then we just started getting hacked down everywhere. So it became choppy but we have to fight through that because it's something we've seen before and it's clearly an approach for other teams.”
It’s fair to say that the officiating didn’t help, but the Latics also must shoulder some of the blame for their inability to manufacture opportunities in the first half on Saturday. Every team has to deal with the same standard of officiating, and Hartford has been unable to produce in the final third regardless of which official has taken charge of the match. Adjustments were desperately needed at halftime, and the Latics were able to find some, with Burke identifying the primary change as playing more direct.
“We just played to the way it was being managed by the referee, so we just got more direct and physical ourselves and then the game became a total coin flip,” he said.
The directness paid off, as Hartford actually outshot Detroit 10-9 over the second 45 minutes, with its best chance coming in the 85th minute, when City keeper Carlos Herrera had to be alert to keep out a header from Joe Farrell following a corner kick.
Despite the continued struggles in attack — and the delay in adapting to the game — Hartford should consider this a creditable point. The Latics may not want to be at the bottom of the table looking up, but they are, and when a top-four team comes to town, a clean sheet and a point is nothing to be sneezed at. The defense played well, with keeper Antony Siaha — by his own admission in search of redemption after last week’s game — making some key saves to help preserve the clean sheet.
While Hartford’s position in the table is not ideal, it remarkably sits only three points off the playoff positions in the Eastern Conference. While the top five teams in the conference have begun to create a little separation, there are only four points separating the remaining seven teams. The Latics will need to get their act together soon, particularly in attack, but this is a valuable point taken from another solid defensive performance as they try to get their season on the right track.