Jack Panayotou Brace Lifts Hartford in USL Jägermeister Cup
Two goals for the New England Revolution loanee was enough for the Latics to claim all three points over Portland Hearts of Pine
Hartford Athletic kicked off their inaugural USL Jägermeister Cup campaign in style with a 2-0 win over Portland Hearts of Pine. Loanee Jack Panayotou — who arrived from the New England Revolution just this week — had both goals and a strong collective defensive effort kept Hearts off the scoresheet as the Latics took all three points at Trinity Health Stadium.
It was a blustery day in Hartford, with periods of rain, and it was the visitors who were on top in the opening quarter of an hour, getting the bulk of the ball and manufacturing some clear-cut opportunities but failing to test Antony Siaha in the Hartford goal.
The game ebbed and flowed from there, and it was the hosts who got on the board first, with Jack Panayotou becoming the ninth player in club history to score on his debut following a break in the 41st minute. Portland had won a free kick in a dangerous area, and tried something off the training ground, but it came to nothing and the Latics were off in the other direction.
The referee twice played advantage — once for a hard foul on Adrián Diz Pe and once for a tug on Adewale Obalola — and Hartford did not let the opportunity go to waste. Samuel Careaga played a peach of a ball into the path of Panayotou, and he finished easily past Portland keeper Hunter Morse to give his side the lead.
Hearts had an excellent opportunity to equalize only minutes later when the ball was touched on to Walter Varela in the box, but Siaha got down well and had a strong hand to keep the ball from going over the line. It was the last meaningful action of the first half, so the hosts headed down the tunnel a goal to the good.
The second half began in much the same way as the first, with the visitors on top and once again creating several meaningful opportunities. A wicked deflection wrong-footed Siaha, but TJ Presthus recovered very well to clear the ball before it crossed the line. Hearts had other opportunities as well, but were unable to convert any of them as the Hartford defense held firm.
It was the hosts who scored again in the 65th minute, and it was Panayotou who doubled their lead, making him the first player in club history to score a brace on his debut. A good combination between Michee Ngalina and Emmanuel Samadia down the left-hand side saw the Sierra Leone international beat his man and whip a dangerous ball into the box, which Panayotou poked home.
Panayotou’s day was marred by a harsh second yellow in the 72nd minute, when he was carded as he was leaving the field following a substitution being announced. It was an unusual sending off, as Panayotou did not commit a foul in the game but still received two yellow cards, something Hartford manager Brendan Burke described as “mind bending.”
Despite going down a man, the Latics limited Portland’s opportunities over the last twenty minutes of the game, and claimed a deserved win when the final whistle blew. The win and the two goals move Hartford to the top of the table in Group Four.
The Latics now enter a difficult stretch of league play, taking on three of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference over the next three weeks, beginning with a trip to back-to-back conference finalists Charleston Battery.