Two days after a late goal James O’Connor called “infuriating,” the Louisville City FC coach praised his players’ “first class” response to a return to training. LouCity hit the pitch again Monday off a 2-2 draw with Wilmington Hammerheads FC to prepare for a trip to play the Rochester Rhinos, last year’s United Soccer League champion.
“I think that’s one of the really pleasing things we have here — the group of guys,” O’Connor told reporters. “We’ve got a fantastic group of guys, and I think their attitude has been spot-on. They’re obviously just as disappointed as I was — the coaching staff — because having looked at the game, we should have won the game.
“When you get an opportunity to win, you need to take it. But it’s been a lesson for us.”
Here’s more of what O’Connor and midfielder Aodhan Quinn, LouCity’s team captain, had to say Monday:
- Wilmington made the most of a stoppage-time corner, moving the ball forward with a header before it caromed into the net. O’Connor called it “a message given to us,” because his team has deftly defended set pieces in 2016. The lesson? “When there’s two minutes left, win the game,” O’Connor added. “Get your head in the ball and discuss it after.”
- Before allowing three goals in a win over Orlando City B, plus the two to Wilmington, LouCity had posted five straight clean sheets. “We want that to be our standard,” O’Connor said. “We want to nullify the opposition.” Quinn added that, “We need to get back to getting shutouts. We’ve given up too many goals…Hopefully we can be better defensively.”
- Given a number of personnel changes, this isn’t the Rochester of old. The Rhinos, who defeated LouCity in the 2015 Eastern Conference final, are still off to a 5-3-3 start. “They’re obviously fighting to stay in the playoffs and go on and challenge,” O’Connor said. “I’m sure that at the end of the season, they’re going to be there.”
- Quinn, by the way, sported a shiner under his left eye. “I got elbowed in the face in the game,” he said, then smiled. “No foul.”
