Hartford Athletic Continues Good Road Form, Grab Three Points In Miami
Jack Panayotou scored the only goal of the night as the Latics get back on track in south Florida
Hartford Athletic claimed a tough but valuable point on Saturday night, with a second-half strike from Jack Panayotou the difference for the Latics as they triumphed 1-0 over Miami FC. It was the 11th clean sheet of the season for Hartford — tying the club record set last season — and also extended the club’s road unbeaten run to nine games.
Playing their third game in eight days — with two more in the coming week —Hartford came out with a heavily rotated squad that included a club debut for midfielder Cameron Duke, who was added to the roster on a 25-day contract this week. Miami bossed the ball early, as Hartford struggled to get control of the ball, or get much of a touch on it in the opposition half.
After that early spell, Hartford grew into the game, and probably should have been ahead in the 17th minute. A well-taken corner by Jack Panayotou found the head of Jordan Scarlett, who powered the ball towards goal, but Matias Romero was well-positioned to deny the effort and keep the scores level.
For the remainder of the first half, the game see-sawed back and forth without either side truly grabbing control. Brendan Burke made one change at halftime, bringing off Cameron Duke and replacing him with Baboucarr Njie, the first in a series of substitutions that largely seemed calculated to try and balance maintaining the fitness of his squad with taking the maximum points from the fixture.
The start to the second half did tilt towards Miami a little, but it was Hartford that found the breakthrough in the 55th minute through Panayotou. Back in the starting lineup for the first time in 127 days, he was the beneficiary of some hard work by Beverly Makangila, who won the ball in a dangerous area and played him in as the Miami defence lost track of his run. One-on-one with the keeper, Panayotou fired home confidently from a difficult angle for his third goal in all competitions, and his first since a brace on a debut against Portland Hearts of Pine in April.
Hartford should truthfully have doubled the lead just two minutes later when Panayotou played in Jonathan Jimenez. Faced with a similar angle as Panayotou just moments earlier, Jimenez elected to go low, rather than high, but his attempt to put the ball through the legs of the Miami keeper was thwarted as Nicolas Campisi got down quickly to deny him.
Panayotou and Jimenez were both replaced shortly thereafter, as Burke elected to bring on Kyle Edwards and Samuel Careaga for the last half hour. Ten minutes later, with the game still in the balance, Burke elected to bring on Hadji Barry for the last 20 minutes, with Adewale Obalola making way. It was a first competitive appearance in over a year for Barry, and his first USL Championship action since 2022.
Miami continued to press forward, with Hartford looking rather leggy and unable to contest the ball to strongly, and the hosts did seem like they might be the more likely to score next. In between the two Hartford substitutions, Miami had one of their best chances of the night when Diego Mercado unleashed a shot from outside the penalty area that forced Antony Siaha to get down smartly to prevent the ball creeping inside the post.
Going the other way, Hartford had another opportunity to double the lead when Barry played in Edwards in the 82nd minute. A sliding tackle just put him off, but the ball ricocheted off the forward’s body and bounced goalwards, forcing a clearance from Jonathan Ricketts.
The hosts continued to carry a threat, and Hartford seemed to fade even more as the game progressed. Francisco Bonfiglio — who came into the night tied for the league lead in goals — was lurking throughout the second half and managed to find a couple of good headers, but Miami’s best chance as time wound down came through substitute Tobias Zarate, who rattled the post in the 84th minute.
Truthfully, Miami will feel like it should have had something from that game, but Hartford did well to grind out a critical three points on the road. The victory helps keep them in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, ahead of Detroit City on goal difference, and just a point behind NCFC in fourth.