Hartford Athletic Host Streaking Las Vegas Lights on Saturday Night
Latics aim to put an end to Lights eleven-game unbeaten run
Hartford Athletic welcome Las Vegas Lights to Trinity Health Stadium on Saturday as they head into the last third of the season teetering on the edge of elimination from playoff contention. The Latics currently sit eight points out of the playoff spots with only twelve games to play and are probably in need of something in the neighborhood of twenty points from those remaining games to have any chance of playing meaningful football at the end of October.
Last time out, Hartford suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the hands of local rivals RIFC. A closely contested first half — which saw the Latics spurn two golden opportunities — gave way to a second half in which RIFC dominated the game and ran out deserved winners. The defeat added to Hartford’s road woes, as they have now accumulated just four points in eleven road games.
The inability to convert good chances continues to vex the Latics, with last weekend’s performance only the latest example of their frustrating profligacy. Only El Paso have scored fewer goals this season, and of the teams in the bottom third of the league by xGF (expected goals for), only Locomotive have a bigger negative differential between their expected goals and their actual goals than Hartford. When combined with one of the worst scoring defences in the league — only Miami is worse — the continued struggles in front of goal have been even more damaging.
On the other side of the pitch, it’s been a tumultuous few years for Las Vegas, who saw their two-year affiliation with LAFC end prior to the 2023 season. A campaign that saw them win only four games — and apparently declining interest from then-owner Brent Lashbrook — gave many the impression that the club might fold in the offseason. It wasn’t until January 16, less than two months before the start of the 2024 season, that the club was acquired by a group fronted by former MLB star Jose Bautista, Dennis Sanchez was hired as the new manager.
A bevy of signings followed, and the start to this campaign was understandably rocky, with the Lights losing six of their first nine games. Since then, however, things have turned around, with the club getting results in 13 of their last 14 games and being unbeaten in their last 11 which has seen them rise to fifth in the Western Conference.
French playmaker Valentin Noël has been one key to their success but the emergence of Khori Bennett, who initially struggled to make the adjustment to the Championship after two seasons with Charlotte Independence in League One but has seven goals and an assist in eleven games since the beginning of June.
On Saturday, the Latics are up against a team that is on a roll; without being dominant in any phase of the game the Lights are stringing together results and putting in performances that are good enough to justify them. Hartford will certainly prefer to have this game at home, where their results have been much more reasonable (they actually have the sixth-best home record in the Eastern Conference), and any hope the club has of squeezing a little more juice out of this season starts with their ability to get results at Trinity Health Stadium.