NEW YORK – Adrian Heath was quick to look at the bigger picture, to put Sunday’s 2-2 draw against New York City FC into the proper perspective before voicing his pleasure over the result.
It was Orlando City SC’s third game in eight days, and the second-year club managed to pick up five points from those matches to move level with D.C. United, Toronto FC and the New England Revolution with 16 points.
And it came just before the club’s Copa América Centenario break and without star forward Kaká.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the players’ efforts, considering the injuries,” Heath said. “You lose Kaká, who’s been such an influence for us in the last few weeks, I think it speaks volumes for the amount of hard work the players have put in over the last week.”
After falling behind 2-0 on goals by Frederic Brillant and David Villa, it appeared the Lions would head into the break on a losing note. But a rare missed penalty by Villa – a highly disputed one according to Heath – opened the door, and Orlando City took full advantage.
“At two-nil you’re still in the game, three-nil would have killed it,” Heath said. “We kept going and Julio [Baptista]got a goal for us. When it gets to 2-1 on the back of how they’ve been the last few weeks … as long as we were staying in the game we had a chance.”
The fightback also came despite an uncharacteristic performance from Cyle Larin, who was denied once in each half by Josh Saunders, but was dealing with fatigue from the match congestion.
Larin, who had eight goals in four appearances in the New York area, was noticeably quiet, but he did set up Kevin Molino for some more late-game magic. It was the fifth game this season Orlando City scored in the 85th minute or later.
“We are a pretty young team and when you look at the young players they really want to win. We go through certain spells during a game and that was difficult,” said Molino, who leveled at the death with a powerful header in the box. “They had more possession than us for a lot of the time, but we just kept on going and that’s when that do or die attitude comes into play.”
