What was easily Louisville City’s best performance so far in the season re-start ended in a 1-1 draw on Saturday night at Lynn Family Stadium. A fortunate prior week results-wise got Morados a little closer to the good side of Group E with losses by Indy XI and St. Louis. However, City are still at the bottom of the group this morning.

John Hackworth was right that Saturday night’s tilt was an opportunity for his team to get on the right track. They didn’t quite take it, unfortunately, though there were some positive take-aways from the match.

Indy came into the match at the top of Group E with the league’s leading scorer. They rolled out a 3-4-3 anchored by Neveal Hackshaw on the left, with Ayoze and Tyler Pasher ahead of him on that same side. Hackshaw turned in a really good performance for Indy on the night.

From the purple side, Ben Lundt started in goal, with Sean Totsch and Wes Charpie at center back. The preferred fullback pair of Oscar and Pat McMahon returned for this game. In midfield, Paolo DelPiccolo saw action for the first time in nearly a month, but not really at defensive midfield. Instead, Speedy Williams played in front of the center backs, while Paolo was joined by Corben Bone higher up the field. Finally, Ownby and Cam Lancaster were joined by Napo Matsoso on top, the first time I’ve seen the Kentucky alum deployed in that role.

It paid off early, as Napo was able to quickly pounce on a ball in his lap after a corner clearance. All alone and in space, Matsoso quickly picked up his head and immediately crossed the ball to the far post to a wide open Speedy Williams for a headed goal in just the third minute of the match. City should have absolutely doubled the lead just a few minutes later, after Ownby dished to Lancaster, whose shot was saved, and then near misses by Ownby and Lancaster shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, those were the best chances City would have to score for the rest of the match.

Indy tightened up defensively after that, and played for the counter. To City’s credit, they did a pretty good job bottling up Tyler Pasher and Andrew Carleton all night, except for once, which was all those two needed. Carleton, on loan to Indy from Atlanta United, had a frustrating game, but managed to put a short cross on a dime to Tyler Pasher in the 59′, and that really marked the last good chance for either team for the rest of the game.

It was a well played game, and the result was probably fair. Still, City have to be a bit frustrated to only get a point out of their best performance all season. They passed the ball really well all game, and while they didn’t turn the ball over much when Indy pressed high, they weren’t able to exploit any space behind, either. Figure that out, and things may start to become different. Shooting stats were poor again for this match, with 22 purple shots but just three on goal, all of those coming in the opening ten minutes of the game.

Again, Indy deserves a lot of credit for their defense. Watching Neveal Hackshaw absolutely stymie Jason Johnson when he came on late was impressive. Putting Paolo in a more creative role higher up the field was a good idea in terms of trying to create more offense centrally for City. However, it didn’t come off all that well, and Indy deserve some credit for that, too. I haven’t been all that impressed with Corben Bone this season from an eye-test standpoint, but maybe that’s because I’m not seeing the right things. He completed over 90% of his passes, won seven duels, and created six scoring chances. Maybe another go-round with him and Paolo is worth exploring?

Indy’s three-man back line would, schematically, seem to be more ripe for attacks out wide, too, but City didn’t try all that many of those, only attempting 16 crosses all game. Hackshaw did a good job defending Pat McMahon (who had a very good game, by the way), while it didn’t seem like either he or Oscar got all that high up the field in possession – likely to keep a lid on Pasher and Carleton.

To wrap it up, I think it’s fair to say this game was a step forward. Unfortunately, it only led to a point. A point against Indy, a very good team in 2020 so far, is not bad. City just have to turn that corner from “not bad” to good. With just ten games left in the season, there’s not a lot of time to get there, but there is enough.

Next game is Wednesday against SKC II again. No rest for the weary. Let’s go get some damn points.