On the scuffle in the 39th minute:
“The ball came into the box and I tried to get my head on it. The defender went up and we knocked heads. I guess the guy thought I came in with my elbow and he kind of jumped up and jumped in my face. Credit to the guys – I think it was Cameron [Lancaster] and Jose [Carranza] and I guess it was a little scuffle. So glad the guys on our side kept their head and didn’t do anything rash and the other guys didn’t take that message as well. They let it slip and it cost them.”
On his thoughts after the scuffle and scoring a goal:
“When I scored I was still thinking about the penalty I thought I had. It was a good ball in from Jonathan [Lewis] and I thought I was in on goal and when it wasn’t I was kind of in disbelief so for the ball to come back to me in the box and a great ball by Kyle [Smith] – you don’t see me get on the end with my head as much but I was glad I was able to keep it low and keep it on frame and it was a good goal.”
On the shift after Ottawa’s second player was sent off:
“Well, then it’s up to us to manage it. When you’re up two guys like that, it’s your game. And I thought we had the run of play before they had men sent off so when they went a man down and then two men down, it was up to us to be smart. I was on a yellow card so I had to not get into anything or get myself sent off and just move the ball, rotate the ball and we knew more chances would come.”
On Coach’s words during the break:
“To come out of halftime as if it’s zero-zero. One thing that we could be a lot better at is finishing games off and having a strong mentality as if we’re chasing the game, even when we’re up. And I think that was something we did really well tonight. We came out of the half strong and it paid off for us and we were able to get the result.”
On the importance of finally playing at home:
“Yeah, for anybody who’s been around here knows that making the playoffs is not our goal. That’s not what we strive to do at the beginning of the season. We’re trying to win – win championships. So hopefully home advantage is key. They helped us massively last year so the higher up the table we finish the more home games we have and right now we’re trying to win every game we play from here on out.”
On how Jose Carranza and Jonathan Lewis fit in on the attack:
“I think they mesh well. Jose [Carranza] has been here for quite a while now and he’s been training really well and he’s a good young player. He’s good on the ball. He’s comfortable. And if he continues to come on and put in performances like that, hopefully, he stays here longer. And same with Jonathan [Lewis]. He’s pretty rapid and you could see he could get to the end line a couple of times and served some dangerous balls. We’re glad to have these guys and glad they’ve been able to come in and mesh well with the culture and with the locker room and hopefully that continues and they can keep helping us.”
On Greg Ranjitsingh’s injury:
“Nothing really besides a little bit of a freak injury. He said when he was taking a goal kick he felt a sharp stabbing pain. It’s probably the muscle in between his rib cage and we hope that’s all it is. He’ll get some x-rays tonight. Hopefully, we get good news that it’s just a muscle. Hopefully, we’ll get him back quickly.”
On goals from George Davis IV and Cameron Lancaster:
“Yeah, I mean it’s fantastic for George. I thought the way he played tonight, the way he responded from last Saturday, was excellent. I thought he deserved at least a call before the goal, I don’t know if it was or wasn’t, but I can’t say anything about that. So to have a goal, get a goal right after that was so important. We felt like we were banging on the door for so long there, that first goal was huge because it totally changes the game, how they have to defend, how they’re going to have to come out. So that was really important for us.”
On having success with set pieces:
“You know, it’s just stuff that you work on on the training pitch. And we have good delivery, we have good runs. We have guys that are playing the ball and executing. So I always think that’s an important thing that we emphasize it and we’ve executed it.”
On Jose Caranza’s impact:
“Really happy with him. I wanted to play him on Wednesday when we were rotating the roster a little bit, but I went obviously with a little more experience because I just felt like we needed it there. Tonight, I wanted to make sure I could put Jose in a position where he could succeed. So having Niall [McCabe] in front of him and Paolo [DelPiccolo] behind him, you know, I thought worked really well.”
On the strength of the goalkeepers and backline in getting another clean sheet:
“Yeah the backline, I think we’re getting better, we’re learning. And Tim [Dobrowolski] came on and did a fantastic job, looked the part right from the start: composed plan, the ball in the back, which is something we’ve been working on this week and try and emphasize. Felt like we needed to pull Ottawa out a little bit, you know, that that worked well. So really happy for him. I always talk about opportunity and when you get your opportunity, you have to make the most off it. So as he was walking on the field, I was like, ‘this is it, this is your opportunity. So do it.’ And I thought he did great.”
On the momentum changes as Ottawa lost players:
“Yeah. I think the first one is a little bit of a game changer and they have to change the way they play. When they go two down, obviously we just need to manage the game right. Initially, we weren’t really managing. We were forcing balls- they’re pro players, they want to show their stuff in front of all the fans. And I said ‘don’t do anything except pass the ball back and forth until they step, then once they step, then we go.’ And so it took a little while to get that message across. But once we did I was really pleased with it.”
On his first home win as the head coach of Louisville City FC:
“As always, this place is electric. And it was a lot of fun. I can’t say enough. I only can relay that. I tell my family back in Florida, I can’t wait till they get here to experience it. And I know I miss parts of it too, you know, before the game, at halftime and things like that. It’s an awesome place. So really happy to get the first win here for all of us because it’s been a while since this group got a win here. I know I’m just a small part of that.”
On the next step as they prepare for Atlanta:
“I think we just have to progressively get better. I’ve always said if we keep improving from game to game, if we learn from our previous mistakes then we’re going to put ourselves in a place to be successful. That’s the whole message that we will to continue to try to preach. Atlanta is going to be tough, but we know that we have a locker room is more than capable of going down there and getting another result.”
On the initial yellow and red cards handed out in the match:
“I think the referee got both of them right. I thought George had his arm high when he went on from the header and I think he- I don’t think he did it maliciously at all, but I think he got him. And so that’s a red. I mean that’s a yellow card, but to throw a punch, you know, after the fact that was in front of everybody, I don’t know how you can’t, you can’t not red card that. So you know, that is what it is.”
On the importance of getting the two goals before halftime:
“It was really important not just because we were up a man but because we put them under a lot of pressure. And when he had been a little unfortunate not getting a goal and not getting a call that we thought would have gone our way. So absolutely. You know, the first goal breaks it open, the second one changes how we have to talk about halftime and now some of our tactics coming into the second half.
On general play in the first half:
“I thought we were really good. I mean, there were some areas we needed to improve on which we were going to talk about, but the reality is that we were good. I love the energy that we came out with. I love the mentality. I thought the soccer was really good. I thought we picked them apart in all the right ways. I was a little frustrated we hadn’t found the back of the net and I felt like some guys needed to be a little more selfish and take 1v1 opportunities and in particular, take some shots on goal. I felt like we were trying to dribble and pass through them in neat ways and I know I told the guys, but that changed, obviously.”
On why he made attacking changes in the second half:
“No because 2-0 is the worst lead in soccer. And being up a man- those two factors are curses for soccer chambers, the world knows it. So you have to get the third one. We talked about, you’re up a man and it’s every soccer team will back off a little bit, or one guy will just not run as hard because he thinks somebody else is going to do that and that’s a terrible thing to do. So that’s what I was trying to make sure that we implore our guys to keep play the game at the highest level. Don’t play the score, don’t play the how many men you’re playing against. Just play the game.”
On if Ottawa being two men down skews how they view the game:
“No. Look at how we started that game. All right. And we were good. And what we worked on in training we felt like we had to emphasize we were executing there, so I was happy with that.”
On how much can be taken away from the game film of the 9v11 format:
“You can take away a lot of things. I mean think about it. I’m literally screaming at my guys not to go forward to bring them out and once they come out, that’s when we can penetrate. There’s an old activity you do on a soccer field where you get eight versus four, or seven versus four and the attacking team never scores because the four just sit there and defend you have to do a good job pulling your opponent out and creating opportunities to attack and I thought we did that well.”
On main points heading into the final regular season stretch:
“We just have to keep improving and making sure that we hold ourselves accountable to a high standard of performance and putting together 90 plus minutes on a regular basis. We want to be in a position to be successful. We want to play here at home as much as we possibly can in the playoffs. We still got a lot of work to do.”
On dealing with the rainy conditions:
“I think this is perfect weather to play football in, or soccer. And we have a bunch of guys that feel the same exact way. The turf is a little different because it’s slippery, but our guys know that. And so we just talked about because I think it should be our advantage. We know it. We’re experienced on it. Do you see us do our warmup activity on possession on that particular piece of turf? And I constantly say, if we can do it in this little phone booth, we can do it on the whole field. You just have to be confident. You have to control the ball, make good decisions on it. So I think the guys did an excellent job of going out there and taking advantage of the weather. And obviously we’re getting a lot of experience at it. I think it was like we have a game, it rains. Like I guess we’re helping the weather people.”
