Hartford Athletic salvage point vs. NY Red Bulls II

With over 80 minutes played at Dillon Stadium Saturday night, the Hartford Athletic looked doomed to succumb to a shock defeat.

Just a little over a month after thumping New York Red Bulls II (3-6-4) 7-0 at Dillon, the Athletic (5-2-2) found themselves 2-0 down after being outplayed by the visitors for the majority of the evening.

After New York center back Emir Tombul was sent off in the 83rd minute, however, a debut goal from Derek Dodson and a superb stoppage time equalizer from defender Thomas Janjigian ensured Hartford snatched a point in front of a vociferous home support.

“The atmosphere is just unbelievable,” said Janjigian, who scored for the first time this season. “It just gets us going. It gives us that grit to grind through every game.”

The draw means Hartford has now gone 2-2-1 since the June victory over New York, with both wins coming over bottom-of-the-table Loudoun United. The point also allowed the Athletic to climb back into third place in the USL Championship Atlantic Division table. Hartford has three games in hand on fourth-placed Miami FC, who are level with the Athletic on 17 points as of Saturday night.

Hartford manager Harry Watling, however, apologized to the fans post-match.

“Not good enough, not acceptable,” Watling said of the performance. “The fans need to know that there’s no music in the changing room. No one is celebrating that. It’s not us.”

The Red Bulls II, who also dropped their season opener to the Athletic in New Jersey, have now picked up eight points in the five games since the lopsided June defeat in Hartford to move up into sixth place.

Only three of New York’s Starting XI Saturday had also started the last time the two sides met, and the bright, fearless start from the Red Bulls II was rewarded with an early goal.

Just four minutes in, a giveaway in midfield allowed New York forward Omar Sowe to be played clean through on goal. After initially being denied by Athletic goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell, Sowe slid home the rebound for the 20-year-old’s third goal of the season.

Caldwell would be called into action five minutes later, diving to his left to deny a well-struck effort from New York’s Matthew Acosta for one of his seven first-half saves.

However, the 18-year-old Acosta would get his goal less than ten minutes later. Hartford were caught napping by a cutback off a free kick supplied by another teenager, 19-year-old winger Cameron Harper. The Rutgers commit’s low strike took a big deflection off Hartford defender Alex Lara that wrong-footed Caldwell, and the Red Bulls II found themselves nursing a 2-0 lead just 18 minutes in.

Hartford briefly came back into the game and came closest in the first half through Richie Schlentz, who hit the bar in the 23rd minute.

However, the Athletic completed just over 67% of their passes and were outshot 13-3 in the first 45 minutes. After putting seven goals past New York goalkeeper Anthony Marcucci in June, the Athletic failed to force the 18-year-old into a save until over five minutes after halftime.

The game became increasingly chippy as the second half wore on. Three of the five yellow cards brandished after the break were issued in a three-minute span. The last of those cautions, given to Tombul in the 61st minute, proved to be crucial just over 20 minutes later.

Just as New York appeared to have the three points secured, Tombul received a second yellow after bringing down Hartford forward Preston Tabort Etaka on the right wing in the 83rd minute.

“I think the game was always going to end with less players on the pitch, just the way the momentum of the game was going,” Watling said.

Dodson then set up a grandstand finish in the 86th minute when he smashed home a low cross from Tabort Etaka for his first professional goal just a day after his loan move from Major League Soccer's Orlando City SC.

With Hartford now missing the attacking presence of Juan Carlos Obregón Jr. after he was called up to the Honduras squad for the Olympic Games, Watling said Dodson, who came on for Schlentz in the 42nd minute, has “a really good eye for goal.”

“[I] just want him to get the ball,” he said of his instructions to the Georgetown alum. “‘Don’t worry about losing it, just be brave.’”

A fellow substitute, Christian Gómez, would provide the assist for the dramatic injury time goal. New York failed to close down Janjigian, who unleashed a blast from well outside the penalty area that flew into Marcucci’s top-left corner and hit the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

Hartford will now try to ride the momentum from the late game heroics into Tuesday when the Athletic travel to Tampa Bay to take on the first-placed Rowdies. Tampa Bay scraped out a 1-0 victory at Dillon when the sides last met in late June.

“We were fantastic against them here, just lacked the end product,” Watling said. “So we’re right up for that one.”

Before the trip to Tampa Bay, however, Watling will turn his attention to the EURO 2020 Final on Sunday in London, where his native England will take on Italy in his homeland’s first appearance in a major tournament final since 1966.

“Just got fingers and toes crossed that we can be a lot better than Hartford were tonight,” he said.