Another chance to make some waves in the table, another draw instead. After a weekend that saw Indy XI, North Carolina, and Tampa Bay drop points (Tampa had to fight just to get one), Louisville City had a prime chance to close the gap on the Top Four against a middling Ottawa team missing some of its better pieces. At the end of 90′, though, it was another case of missed chances and a defensive blunder that left us all wanting more than the lone point we got.
John Hackworth once again rolled with three at the back, this time inserting Sean Totsch in between Taylor Peay and Paco Craig. Totsch, to his credit, put in one of the better performances on the day, moving up into defensive midfield (occasionally even further) in possession and dropping back into the line on defense. Franno and Oscar played wide, while Speedy Williams played in front of the back line while trying to connect with either Niall McCabe or Magnus in front of him. Luke Spencer played the 9, with Ownby on his left, and Niall sort of playing on the right side but generally a bit deeper.
While I don’t think the club has said anything official about it, Mike Watts noted before kickoff that Paolo DelPiccolo will be out for 6-8 weeks, a really serious blow. It was also noteworthy that Napo Matsoso didn’t even make the eighteen, and that Antoine Hoppenot didn’t start after playing so well a week ago.
LouCity definitely had the better first period, and both Spencer and Ownby had some good chances to score, but Ottawa put four on frame before the halftime whistle blew. The start of the second period is when things went really sideways, though. Ottawa came out of the blocks with a bit of a personnel shift, as Carl Haworth, who had been mostly anonymous in the first half, was positively rampant in the opening minutes of the second. He drew the foul in the box from Paco that led to Wal Fall’s penalty kick goal.
The Fury would have four other shots in the second half, three of which were on frame. LouCity had six second half shots, one being Maggi’s goal and the other being Cuatro’s flubbed shot that hit Callum Irving’s foot One on One. City didn’t record a shot until the substitutions of Cuatro and Sunny Jane for Shaun Francis and Sean Totsch about a half hour in. That’s the third match running that City’s abandoned the back three for a more traditional four mid-match.
From a macro perspective, Morados again dominated possession nearly 60/40, and completed over 80% of their passes, nearly 70% in Ottawa’s half. The frustrating part, though, is that in spite of not having the ball much, Ottawa managed to take 16 shots, and half of them were on frame. City took 13 with just four on target. The Fury created twelve scoring chances in the game (ostensible defensive mid Wal Fall with three of them), while City had an equal number, Oscar leading with three of his own.
Individually, the back three played pretty well while they were in the game, all passing over 80%. Totsch, in particular, completed all but one of his passes. Paco Craig was undefeated on six aerial duels. Unfortunately the one 1v1 he lost was the penalty on Haworth. The Fury really went after Peay, and he acquitted himself fairly well, winning ten of 21 duels.
Magnus and Speedy were generally pretty tidy in midfield, though neither generated a scoring chance. Magnus had the goal, of course. Neither of the wingbacks were particularly notable, other than to say Franno didn’t look particularly comfortable on the left and I wasn’t too surprised to see him come out early.
Despite all of his industry, Ownby didn’t pass the ball well and lost 2/3 of his duels. He did create three chances, however. Spencer was solid as usual, and McCabe was efficient and useful in his Swiss Army Knife role on the right or left or midfield or wherever he happened to pop up. Luke also created two chances.
A quick word about Luke. He’s a leader, a general, and a lot for defenders to handle because he’s not only a physical player but also very technical. He’s really the only true No. 9 on City’s roster. However, through 17 appearances and 1,050 minutes played, he’s scored just five goals, one every 210 minutes. City is definitely worse when he’s not on the field, but the team needs to start getting him some quality service so he can score some goals.
This was a game City could have won, but will have to do with a point. Let’s hope we can get all three this coming weekend.
