Road-Weary Blues Tie Harrisburg 1-1

Still hoping to find all of his lower bicuspids in place — nearly an hour after absorbing a heavy elbow to his bottom jaw — Jeritt Thayer couldn’t help but massage his chin.

Unfortunately for the hustling Harrisburg City Islanders center back, he couldn’t massage away the disappointment he and his heavily lathered teammates were feeling Saturday night at steamy Skyline Sports Complex. Not after watching another winnable game turn into a 1-1 draw.

As for the effect of Saturday’s stalemate with the road-weary Los Angeles Blues of Fullerton, it’s rather simple for Bill Becher’s second-place club (8-5-6, 30 points):

The City Islanders must win — and win quite a bit — during the final three weeks of the USL PRO campaign if they hope to finish at or near the top of the National Division standings.

Since Harrisburg leads the Blues (who play their home games in Fullerton) by a mere three points — LA (7-4-6, 27 points) has played two fewer games — unfortunately, the City Islanders might need help to get that done.

Hence, the disappointment.

“[Los Angeles] has two games in hand on us and they’re only three points behind, so we’re definitely going to have to work a lot harder than we have been,” said Thayer, who absorbed a Peter Byers elbow in the 65th minute that resulted in the brawny striker being shown a red card and ejected.

“We got some unlucky breaks. They got a goal at the end of the first half that really hurt,” added Thayer, referring to a Cesar Rivera score in the 43rd minute that pulled LA into a 1-1 tie. “That really took the wind out of our sails, but we definitely could have done better.

“I think we’ll see a different team coming out against Dayton on Wednesday.”

While a win at last-place Dayton would pop the City Islanders back into a share of the National lead with Rochester and secure a postseason invite for the sixth time in eight seasons, this Harrisburg side doesn’t want to just make the playoffs. This club has loftier expectations.

“We have to win out, especially if we want to win our [division], said midfielder Jason Pelletier, whose restart rip in the 19th minute staked the City Islanders to a 1-0 advantage. “We have to win out, we have to win our next five games. This was a big opportunity for us.”

One that melted in the oppressive heat.

“We’re definitely in a battle for playoff position,” said a miffed Becher, whose club had a second score in the 42nd minute nullified by an offside infraction. Moments later, Rivera equalized. “We still have our hopes and sights on first place, but we put a major blow into that today.”

A major blow that must be rubbed out. And plenty of salve can be applied to a nasty wound by winning Wednesday night at Dayton and creating some positive vibes.

“Definitely getting those three points on Wednesday are what we need to secure that playoff spot,” Thayer said. “From there hopefully it relaxes us a little bit and we’ll be able to play our football.”

By Michael Bullock
Bullock is a Sportswriter for The Patriot News