Hartford Athletic Head to Detroit, Looking for Another Three Points
Back-to-back home wins have the Latics in an optimistic mood as they aim to change their fortunes on the road
Hartford Athletic heads to Keyworth Stadium on Saturday night to take on Detroit City as they look to win its third game in a row for the first time in nearly two years. Two wins on the bounce have just about revived the playoffs conversation in Hartford but with ten games remaining, the Latics are still in a precarious position as they remain six points outside the playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
At home, the Latics have strung together results that are more than good enough. They currently sit on 24 points accumulated at Trinity Health Stadium, a total that is already tied for the best home return in club history.
It also compares well to the competition. Only three teams in the conference — Louisville, Charleston and Tampa Bay — have piled up more points at home than Hartford. The Latics have also picked up ten points from losing positions at home, including last week in a first-ever win over Louisville City.
On the road, however, it’s obviously a different story. With six road games remaining, the Latics have only four points on the road all season. This is on pace to trail even last seasons total, when a team that had one of the worst overall records in league history secured a mere nine points on the road. Explanations for this stark difference are hard to come by but with only a few games remaining, it’s vital to their playoff hopes that the club find some way to get a result or two away from Trinity Health Stadium.
With the exception of Miami FC — who have just two wins and seven points at home — Saturday’s opposition present as good an opportunity as any for Hartford to earn some points on the road. Detroit City have just four wins and 16 points at Keyworth Stadium this season and haven’t won there since the middle of June. In their last seven home games, City have drawn three and lost four, while being held scoreless four times and scoring no more than one goal in each of the other three contests.Â
It’s the scoring that has largely been the problem for Detroit in the second half of the season. Through their first 12 games, Detroit has scored at least two goals seven times; in the last 13 games, they have managed that just twice (and one of those came against league-worst defense Miami). A 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay two gamedays ago hinted at the possibility of a turnaround but Detroit immediately reverted to their previous form last Saturday, falling 1-0 to Tulsa in a game in which they only managed 13 shots despite playing nearly half an hour with an extra man.
Given that Hartford have also struggled to score — especially on the road where they have only six goals all season and have only scored more than one goal once away from Trinity Health Stadium — a low-scoring affair would seem to be on the cards for Saturday night and one goal might be enough to take all three points.
Hartford will need to get off on the right foot, something they have done too infrequently on the road this season. If it can claim a result here, the playoffs will continue to be a realistic aspiration.