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USL Louisville City FC

LouCity Stretches Unbeaten Span to Five Games in 1-1 Draw at Atlanta United FC 2

April 21, 2018 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Louisville City FC News Release


Louisville City FC earned a point on the road in a 1-1 draw against Atlanta United FC 2. The result sees the "Boys in Purple" stay unbeaten through five games in the USL campaign. Forward Cameron Lancaster scored for LouCity (2g, 3gm) while midfielder Andrew Carleton converted a spot kick for the hosts.

What Happened?

Dominating in the early goings, LouCity earned a free kick just outside the ATLUTD2 box. Stepping up, forward Cameron Lancaster was unfortunate not once but twice as his free-kick effort ricocheted off the wall before his header to follow fell narrowly wide of the far post.

As the "Boys in Purple" kept knocking close to the half-hour mark, another chance fell at the back post for Niall McCabe, but the midfielder was unable to get a nick on Kyle Smith's cross from a wide position. City's pressure continued to pile up when, in the 35th minute, they got their best chance of the half off of keen buildup play. Heading a whipped ball on the first time asking, Jimenez saw an effort blast off the crossbar and back into play for Lancaster, who could not keep the rebound down. Moments later, it was forward Ilija Ilic's turn to hit the woodwork as he watched a curler with the outside of his boot smash off the bar and back in play.

Meanwhile, the visitors got their first real look at goal close to 40 minutes into the first half. Compiling bodies on the LouCity goal following a corner, the teams played pinball in the visiting penalty area before the "Boys in Purple" were eventually able to clear. LouCity went into the half locked up at zeroes with ATLUTD2.

Out of the half as the aggressors, LouCity had another pair of close looks in the opening ten minutes of the half. Defender Sean Totsch headed just wide off an Oscar Jimenez corner, and minutes later, Lancaster put a defender in the spin cycle but saw his effort saved by ATL 'keeper Nicolas Caraux.

Against the run of play, the hosts were awarded a penalty just before the hour mark and elected midfielder Andrew Carleton to take. Stepping up to the spot, Carleton stuttered before sending his effort high and wide of the goalmouth to keep the score level.

In turn, persistence paid off for LouCity in the 66th minute. Streaking down the center, Lancaster settled a pass from Devon "Speedy" Williams before hitting a quick-fire effort past Caraux to open the scoring. The goal was Lancaster's second in three matches after finding his first of the season in Cincinnati.

However, again against the run of play, Atlanta was awarded a penalty in stoppage time. Stepping up again, Carleton sent 'keeper Greg Ranjitsingh the wrong way to level the scoring with just minutes remaining.

Despite great efforts from the "Boys in Purple" to find a goal at the death, they settle or a point and remain unbeaten through five games.

The Key Points: - LouCity opened the scoring in the 66th minute on a goal from forward Cameron Lancaster, his second of the year - Atlanta United FC 2 midfielder Andrew Carleton converted a spot kick just into stoppage time to level the scoring and seal a point for the hosts

O'Connor's Takeaways:

Thoughts on the draw and evening overall: "I thought overall our performance was very, very good. When you look at the chances we created, we should have won that game. We should have won that game by four or five goals. So, it's obviously very difficult to take when you come in and you only get one."

On the first half and attacking output: "I don't think we could do much more. We hit the woodwork three times, we had Cam [Lancaster] have a really good chance. As I said, we should've really come in three or four-nil up. I thought we completely dominated the first half. Second half, we still had some chances. We took our goal and looked like we were going to be the team to go on and win the game. They had two breakaways and we've been silly a couple of times there. We let them in when we shouldn't let them in, especially late on like that. I don't know if they are penalties, maybe they are and maybe they aren't, I'll need to see them. It's a rough lesson for us because I thought at times our play tonight was excellent and we deserve three points. We let our concentration slip and we've been punished very dearly for it."

On looking ahead: "We need to learn from it. When you play as well as that and create that many chances, you should win the game. I think that we can certainly, in the end, gain an understanding and our ability to see the game out needs to be a little bit sharper. That's where I need to do a better job of explaining myself and making sure we're all on point with that little bit at the end. But, I don't think anyone can say we didn't deserve to win the game. We had chance after chance, but we need to be more clinical and we need to take our chances. We deserved three points but we've slipped up and let them back in at the end. We need to do a better job at that."

On Cameron Lancaster: "Cam is someone who can score goals. He's very good technically and very strong, and I thought he worked very hard tonight. He deserved his goal. I thought at times he was very hard to play against. Equally, I thought the attacking midfielders in behind did very well and I think all-in-all when you look at the quality of our play at times and you look at our performance, it's really, really difficult to take just a point from that."

Injury Report: OUT - Richard Ballard (stress fracture) OUT - Shaun Francis (hamstring)

Atlanta United FC 2 1 : 1 Louisville City FC Saturday, April 21, 2018 Coolray Field - Atlanta, GA 69 degrees / sunny Attendance: 4135

Scoring Summary: LOU - Cameron Lancaster (Devon "Speedy" Williams) 66' ATL - Andrew Carleton (p) 90+1'

Disciplinary Summary: LOU - Sean Totsch 44' ATL - Oliver Shannon 51' LOU - Devon "Speedy" Williams 84'

Starting XI (4-4-2): Greg Ranjitsingh (GK); Kyle Smith, Paco Craig, Sean Totsch, Alexis Souahy; Oscar Jimenez (George Davis IV 80'), Paolo DelPiccolo (c), Devon "Speedy" Williams, Niall McCabe (Brian Ownby 74'); Ilija Ilic (Magnus Rasmussen 63'), Cameron Lancaster

Bench: Tim Dobrowolski, Chris Hubbard, Luke Spencer

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