ORLANDO, Fla. – For Adrian Heath, it felt like a win; for Cyle Larin it was “a change of mind-set"; and for Darwin Ceren, it was “a bad decision.”
The mix of emotions was as varied and dramatic as Orlando City’s improbable comeback from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw in the final 60 seconds of Sunday's match against Real Salt Lake.
Head coach Heath admitted he had never been in a game with two goals that late in stoppage time – the 94th and 95th minutes. “It was a crazy emotion,” he insisted. “You feel like you’ve won because you’ve got something from the game when you’re thinking it’s got away from you.
“But I thought we were increasingly dangerous at the end. I don’t know how many efforts we had on goal, but it felt like we had four or five really good chances before we scored. You just don’t expect it to turn around that late.”
Heath added that he thought his players didn’t move the ball quickly enough at times and allowed Salt Lake veterans Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman to frustrate his men in the second half as time wore on.
“It was great that the crowd stayed so vociferous,” he added. “It kept our players going and, as soon as you get one goal, you’re still in the game. I always thought we’d get one. I didn’t think we would get two as late as that.”
Larin, last season’s AT&T Rookie of the Year, had been largely frustrated, struggling to test visiting keeper Nick Rimando with two good chances and seeing promising openings for Kevin Molino, Pedro Ribeiro, Brek Shea and substitute Hadji Barry get turned aside or finish on the wrong side of the post.
“The difference between this year and early last year is I have changed my mindset,” Larin explained. “I told myself to keep working because you never know when your chance will come, and I was ready when it did.”
Ceren, who saw red for a challenge on Morales, was insistent he was not guilty of the offense that evened the game after the earlier sending-off of Salt Lake’s Demar Phillips.
“I think it was a bad decision,” he insisted. “The referee said I used my arm to his face, but it was shoulder to shoulder. Hopefully the team can look at it and decide if they want to challenge it through the MLS [disciplinary process].”
