Hartford Athletic fights back and takes three points against Louisville City

Hartford Athletic secured its first win against Louisville City on Saturday night, powered by two second-half goals from Mamadou Dieng and a fine defensive effort from Renan Ribeiro. It was the second week in a row – and fifth time overall – that the Latics have come from behind to get a result.

The first 25 minutes of the game went as expected considering the relative positions of the two teams in the standings. Louisville City had the upper hand and almost all of the action took place in their own attacking half.

Everything changed in the 29th minute when City midfielder Adrien Perez was shown the red card for abusive language – the first of his professional career. Up to that point, the game had been largely one-sided, but the sending off gave the Latics the opportunity to change the direction of the game.

Unfortunately for Hartford, it was Louisville who struck first – despite being a man down – when Taylor Davila weaved through the defense and fired the ball past Ribeiro in the 37th minute. Neither team could add to the score after that and the visitors went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

The Latics began the second half with plenty of determination and it took just three minutes to equalise. The ball was played back from a corner and Danny Barrera sent Emmanuel Samadia into space on the right. The full-back's cross bounced off two Lou City defenders and Dieng was on hand to fire the ball home at the near post to give the hosts the equaliser.

It was Dieng again who put Hartford ahead in the 84th minute. The chance again came from the right flank, this time with Marcus Epps serving. Kyle Edwards touched the ball in the box and Dieng turned and smashed the ball into the top of the net to put the Latics ahead.

Hartford goalkeeper Ribeiro was called upon to defend the lead twice in stoppage time, first to save a Taylor Davila free kick and then to tip a Dylan Mares shot over the bar as the clock ran out. Lou City could not make anything of the resulting corner and the Latics took three points for the first time against the perennial Eastern Conference finalists.

Another good result at home keeps Hartford within touching distance of the playoffs and gives cause for optimism heading into the final ten games of the season. The Latics now need to find a way to pick up some points away from home, and their first opportunity to do so will be next weekend's trip to Detroit. A result there would be a huge boost for a team that needs every point it can get to get back to playing meaningful football by Halloween.