What’s said in the locker room after the type of defeat Louisville City FC suffered Saturday night?
“You don’t want to know,” defender Sean Reynolds said.
A fiery coach James O’Connor questioned the 90th-minute call that set up Orlando City B’s equalizing penalty kick. Before the final whistle, the visiting Lions tacked on a game-winner to stun LouCity and 8,351 fans at Slugger Field.
While the loss marked Louisville’s second in a row — the club had just one during the first two-thirds of the season — players painted a picture of a club that’s not planning to fold down the stretch.
“With nine games left in the season, this is definitely a result we don’t need,” said Reynolds, voted Man of the Match for his efforts Saturday. “We have to get past it. We have to concentrate on the next game. Take this with a grain of salt, remember it and go into the next game ready to play.
“We need to pick ourselves up, and we need to keep going.”
LouCity has made a habit of allowing late goals recently. Since June 1, opponents have scored in the 79th minute or later in five of 10 games.
Coach James O’Connor said Louisville “needs to be better” and “take our chances” when players have them. LouCity numbered 15 shots, five more than Orlando, and attempted twice as many corner kicks as the Lions.
“We need to perform better,” O’Connor said. “We’ve hit the bar. We had chances in the first half. Credit to them. Orlando has come, and they’re missing some players. I thought they caused us some problems. They deserve some credit.”
But, he added, “Not from the referee. No one can stand here and tell me that the referee hasn’t had a major impact on the game.”
Midfielder Guy Abend, whose header moved Louisville ahead in the first half, pointed to the league standings with knowledge that the New York Red Bulls II also lost their second straight game Saturday. LouCity remained up a point and on pace to host in the USL’s single-elimination playoffs.
Next up for Louisville is a trip to play the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Friday.
“This is not a cup. This is a league,” Abend said. “You don’t lose and go back home. We still have time. We can still fix it. Well, there’s nothing to fix. we’re still in first place.”We still have plenty of games ahead to take as many points as we can.”
