Indy Eleven vs Hartford Athletic - 13.17

Summary

- Opponent: Hartford Athletic
- Location: Carroll Stadium
- Attendance: 8,147
- Final Score: 1-1 D

- Starting XI: Dick, Mitrano, Craig, Herbert, Neidlinger, Blake, Lindley, O'Brien, J., Mesanvi, Kizza, Rendon

- Substitution: Okello 75' (Rendon); Kibunguchy 75' (Neidlinger); Rasheed 83' (Mesanvi)

- Unused: Charles-Cook, Omar, Sing, Williams, K.

- Scoring Summary:
IND - Kizza 3' (assist Blake)
HFD - Scarlett 74' (assist Anderson)

- Bookings:

IND - Herbert 24' (Yellow)
HFD - Scarlett 50' (Yellow)
HFD - Anaku 57' (Yellow)
IND - Neidlinger 72' (Yellow)
IND - Kibunguchy 90'+3' (Yellow)

- Referee: Edson Carvajal

- Adage goals: None
- Points Lost from Winning Position (Year To Date): 10

Thoughts and Opinions

Pregame, the potential existed for Coach McAuley to helm the team for his 100th game, Eric Dick to get his 100th appearance in the USL Championship, and Cam Lindley to get to 10,000 minutes in an Indy Eleven jersey if he played more than 88 minutes, which seemed likely since he has played every minute of every league game this season. What was unknown, however, was whether Indy could overcome the late afternoon Sunday temperatures to get a win or whether Hartford Athletic would spoil all of their milestones by walking away from Carroll Stadium with their own win, leapfrogging Indy in the table standings in the process. With the two teams splitting the playoff eligibility line, the game had the feeling of a proverbial six-point game despite Indy's game-in-hand on the visitors. Indy found an early goal to give themselves a chance to get a much-needed win, but Hartford fought back to get their own goal to split the points. The proverbial six-point game finished with both teams in the exact same positions they were coming into the game, 8th for Indy and 9th for Hartford.

Hartford's injury report was substantial, and the team plays Wednesday in the knockout round of the USL Prinx Tires Cup, so they were rotating players tonight. As such, Brendan's Burke's tactics for the game looked much like the typical Indy Eleven style-of-play with trying to defend as well as possible and counterattack. The game skewed initially towards Indy in possession and in heat map in the first half after their early goal, but Hartford's counterattacks were effective to give them a 9 to3 advantage in shots as the half progressed, but couldn't find a way to get many of those shots on target. Indy's early goal held up and the teams went into the halftime locker room with Indy on the right side of the score line thanks to a stoppage time save by Dick that prevented the visitors from getting on the board.

Post-74th Minute Shots

After the break, Hartford looked the better team, particularly after they made a mass substitution in the 59th minute, changing out four players at once. It took until the 74th minute, but the Hartford momentum was finally rewarded when Scarlett flicked a headed ball out of the reach of a Dick who couldn't get down quickly enough to push it outside of the post. Indy's early goal had been erased and Hartford looked like the team more likely to come away with the full three points after the goal. Much like Indy many times this year, if they had been more clinical around goal, this wouldn't have stayed a 1-1 draw. When the final whistle blew, both teams walked away with points, but if I were a Hartford Athletic player or their supporters, I think they had a legit argument that they deserved more out of the game than just the one point. 

Indy still have a game in hand (or two or three depending on the team) on most of the teams around them, but we're on the downhill side of the season so points are vital moving forward. McAuley has said recently that the team needs to not lose to the teams below them on the table because Indy is currently sitting in the last playoff spot. What's equally important is that Indy get points off those teams and then hope everybody else beats up on the teams below them. Indy didn't lose points to Hartford tonight, but the number of "points lost from winning positions" increased, which means that Indy is leaving the teams below them within striking range. 

I recently heard the phrase "limitations lead to creativity," and while the place where I heard it was well outside the sports realm, I immediately thought about Indy Eleven. Coach McAuley has continued to have to be creative in his lineups as a result of player availability due to injuries (and talent?). The back line has bounced around game-to-game as the injuries have piled up. This week Mitrano gets the start because of a hamstring injury to Quinn. Neidlinger was back in the starting lineup after losing his starting spot last game to Kibunguchy (found out Kibunguchy also had a slight tweak to his hamstring which limited his minutes). O'Brien has found himself playing much higher the pitch than we've seen in his previous seasons. The results, lately, haven't been as good as Indy would like, but it's not for lack of trying from McAuley to find a combination of healthy bodies to turn the tides. I'm just not sure he has enough to be able to compete, particularly against the elite teams in the league, but seemingly even against the average teams in the league.

During Indy's USL Cup group stage game against Fort Wayne FC, I stated that: 

It's become more and more evident as the season has progressed that Indy is likely an average to maybe below average USL Championship team this year, at least based on results. However, through three games this year with USL League competition (twice with Union Omaha and once against Fort Wayne, who are in their first season as a professional team), Indy has lost twice and drawn once, indicating that this year's Indy Eleven team might be an average to below average League One team. Particularly when you factor in that two of those three games utilized what could be considered Indy's "A" team. The average age more closely resembles that of a League One team and it turns out that the overall talent level may reflect that too. 

As the season has progressed, I stand by that statement. I'm just not sure this team has the talent, across the board, to be more than what we're seeing right now, which is a team teetering precariously on the playoff line. If Indy go to Sporting JAX next weekend and don't have a good performance and get positive results, I'm not sure that I see this team recovering from that. After that game, Indy will have 12 games remaining, 5 of which include Louisville twice (pay no attention to their recent struggles compared to year's past, I don't think Indy wins either of them), New Mexico in Albuquerque, Charleston, and Tampa Bay. Their final three games of the season are at home to Tampa Bay, away to Louisville, and away to Charleston. If Indy don't make some headway in the 9 games before the final stretch, I don't see any way that this current team overcomes that stretch.

Watching today's game against a battered, bruised, and rotated Hartford squad, Indy hanging onto the final playoff spot seems difficult to imagine. 

Game Beckons Game Ball

As I've said repeatedly in this segment, sometimes the GBGB just goes to the player that jumps out at me (in a good way) as making an impact even if their statistics don't reflect tonight. Tonight, though, Blake's stats, assist, and general work rate made him stick out for him. In what felt like a disappointing draw to me, Blake looked like his injury that kept him out a couple of games wasn't a factor and he was all over the place trying to make something positive happen. His cross that led to the early Indy Eleven goal was perfectly placed and just needed a slight flick from Kizza to get it out of Siaha's reach. I keep talking about the overall lack of talent on the team, but Blake isn't in that group. There just isn't enough Blakes on the team.

Don Thompson Photography