HARRISON, N.J. – On a recent skid in form, interim coach Bobby Murphy and Orlando City FC faced a tough task on Wednesday night against a New York Red Bulls outfit that hadn’t let in a goal at Red Bull Arena since Orlando’s last visit on April 24th.
The struggles continued, as Orlando City lost 2-0 to the Red Bulls.
Orlando City’s own attack was punchless for much of the evening. The only two shots they took in the first half were blocked. Still, despite the result the Lions felt they were in the match for much of the night.
“When we go back and look at it, it’s the fine margins that are costing us,” Murphy said after his second game in charge. “We spent a lot of time in the last three days looking at their set pieces – and they’re very unpredictable on set pieces, they’ve got a whole bunch of them – but we also talked about the second phase of the set piece, the initial clearance and the second one, and that’s where the first goal came from.”
The Lions held Bradley Wright-Phillips (three goals in two previous matches against Orlando City this season) in check, but still had a hard time against an offense that didn’t feature MLS assist-leader Sacha Kljestan.
Orlando City’s first shot on target came with over sixty minutes in, just after Cyle Larin subbed in. Larin’s glancing header flashed wide of the post in the 73rd minute, but it was better from a Lions squad toothless for much of the match. A clever back heel from another substitute, Julio Baptista, put the Red Bulls defense on its heels in the 75th minute, before Larin was later played through, forcing a tough kick-save from Luis Robles. It was Larin’s first match without a goal against a New York team, breaking what had been a streak of eight goals in five matches.
“The problem is, we were down two-nil when it opened up,” Murphy said. “Full credit to them. It’s about taking chances and they took ‘em, so fair play.”
