After observing forward Ilija Ilic the last two weeks in training, Louisville City FC coach James O’Connor said, “I think we got to a stage where we felt that we couldn’t not play Iljia.”
And so that’s what O’Connor did, inserting Ilic in the starting lineup Saturday for the second time this season and first time since June 3. The forward rewarded the decision, pushing the attack in a 2-1 win over Ottawa Fury FC at Slugger Field.
Ilic’s standout play came in the 20th minute when he slipped behind the defense and fired a shot off the cross bar. Six minutes after midfielder Brian Ownby got LouCity on the board, Ilic nearly doubled the lead.
“You have to be consistent in your message, and we try to be with the players, and training is very important for us here,” O’Connor said. “We believe in working really hard and training hard, because that’s how we believe we’re going to get better and how you’re going to develop. Ilija epitomized that, and Ilija deserved his chance.”
O’Connor substituted forward Luke Spencer — who went on to score in the 71st minute — for Ilic in the second half. The coach described Ilic, a third-year forward, as “very unfortunate not to score” himself, “and we only took him off because he was on the yellow card and I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen. That was the main reason I took him off.”
Here’s more of what we took away from Saturday’s game:
• Saturday’s LouCity-Charleston rematch will include a pair of teams in top form. The boys in purple have won four of five but barely closed the gap to the Battery, who defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies by a 2-0 score Saturday night. Last time the teams met at MUSC Health Stadium, they played to a 4-4 draw.
• Brian Ownby continued to showcase he’s a next-level player. Voted Man of the Match, his 14th-minute goal opened scoring, but the midfielder continued churning in another workmanlike effort on the wing.
• Defender Sean Reynolds also made his first start Saturday since June 3 in Charleston, helping anchor the back line of LouCity’s 3-4-3 formation. Reynolds fared much better this time out than the last, in to stop an attack that included multiple Ottawa players at 6-foot-3 or taller. Fury FC placed just one shot on goal.
