WHAT. A. NIGHT. RIFC claimed all 3 points against Hartford Pathetic on Saturday with a 3-0 win. The win, along with the other results from around the league, pushes us up to 6th in the Eastern Conference. As for Hartford Pathetic….they just remain as irrelevant as ever. Seems pretty fitting to me. In fact, this game encapsulated Hartford Pathetic as a whole perfectly on and off the field. But before getting into all that, we have to look at how our boys got the job done.

All of us here at Tide Talk were upset about the 6 changes that were made for the Indy Eleven match on Wednesday. Khano then said hold my beer and went ahead with 7 changes for this one:

This was a return to the lineup that we have come to expect lately, with the one change being Zach Herivaux for Marc Ybarra. As much as I’m partial to Ybarra, Zach had a really solid game and it looks like there might be real competition for that defensive midfield spot.

As expected, we were the better team for the whole game. It started early with an Albert Dikwa chance in the 5th minute. Dikwa got on the end of a cross from Jojea Kwizera but missed from inside the 6 yard box. In his defense, Hartford Pathetic goalkeeper Renan Ribeiro put him off and they collided after the shot went high and wide over the bar. We kept the pressure up and eventually got our reward in the 29th minute. Kwizera swung in a well placed cross from a free kick out wide. Grant Stoneman got on the end of it and headed it in to give us the 1-0 lead.

The only thing Hartford Pathetic offered on the field was trying to use their pace to get the ball forward. Sometimes that would be in transition and other times they would just try to play the ball long and run in behind. The only real “success” they got from this was winning some corners and they would have their best chance off of a corner in stoppage time of the 1st half. A near post header was sent towards the far post but no one was able to get on the end of it to put the ball in an empty net.

We continued on the front foot in the 2nd half and quickly got the 2-0 lead. It was a similar goal from the first one, with this one being swung in by Noah Fuson from a free kick. Frank Nodarse ran across goal, got on the end of the cross at the near post, and sent it back the way he came past the goalkeeper at the far post. We would have several other chances including great ones from JJ Williams, some blocked shots, and a rocket off the crossbar from Stephen Turnbull to name a few. Joe Brito would slide in to put away a Dikwa cross in stoppage time and give us 3 goals to go along with the 3 points.

The only thing I can really say about our performance as a whole was that it was complete and utter domination. Hartford Pathetic barely ever threatened to score. I thought Kwizera stood out for us and looked really dangerous on the left wing. Turnbull was also good on the right wing, making his underlapping runs into the half-space while Dikwa took up his spot out wide. It was also great to see new addition Morris Duggan come on for the last 10 minutes or so. Even in a short time, he looked solid defensively (especially in the air) and comfortable on the ball.

Now that I got that out of the way, we can get on to the good stuff. This is the first blog I’m writing after a home game that I was able to attend. I have season tickets but missed the North Carolina FC game. The blogs started back before the Miami FC game when I wrote the first Prematch Lookout. The North Carolina game was the only other home game we’ve had since then and I was watching that one from the middle of cow country in Western New York.

It was great to be back at Beirne and Defiance 1636 deserves a shoutout. The supporter’s section was rocking and just as we completely outclassed our opponents on the field, we outclassed them in the stands. Our tifo was top notch. I mean, just look at this (ignore the poor quality photo that I took off of my TV from the broadcast)

And compare that to the one their supporters had for the game in Hartford:

Sure, theirs were all big and shiny. But it was so corporate. Clearly came from the club because their supporter’s weren’t clever enough to come up with something on their own. But we have to talk about what the Hartford Pathetic supporters brought to Smithfield. I mean, can someone explain this to me?

My initial thought was that they were holding trash bags, which makes sense as they were coming from the trashiest city in the Northeast. But the consensus from our supporters was that they looked more like condoms. How nice of them to bring the condoms for the…ahem…banging they were about to take (sorry, trying to keep this kind of pg/pg-13). Whatever they were, I saw them all in a trash can after the game in what was a perfect representation of their fanbase.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Hartford Pathetic supporters would top themselves right around the hour mark:

.@hfdathletic fans lighting fireworks being down 2-0 is the perfect summary of the club @TideTalkRI @RIDefiance1636 pic.twitter.com/4sYnWWovqj

— Ryan Healey 🌊 (@RAHealey) August 11, 2024

WTF is this? 2-0 down and setting off fireworks from the middle of the stands? What an embarrassment. I can’t tell what’s worse, setting off fireworks when you’re losing and your team is completely inept on the field, or setting them off and potentially endangering the people around you. This was definitely a coordinated effort, as the fans also set off some green smoke and unfurled a small banner that no one could even make out. The perpetrator with the fireworks was reportedly arrested and the Smithfield police remained in the section until the game was over.

Everything about the Hartford Pathetic travelling support in this game was a perfect portrayal of the club and its fans, even down to the trip over. The club had Coca-Cola sponsor the refreshments for the bus ride over. Could they not afford to provide their fans with food and drink? It seems the only thing keeping the club afloat are their promotions and sponsorships. Literally everything they do is sponsored and every home game has a major gimmick to try to get fans into seats. As as I mentioned in the Prematch Lookout, their next home game has a promotion involving some food influencer.

It’s really funny when you think about the fact that this game was Hartford Pathetic’s biggest game of the season. Their team is going nowhere and all their fans had was this derby. They travelled on buses for an hour and a half just to see their team produce a completely pathetic performance. Not to give them any credit, but their fans actually seemed up for it at the beginning. They were more animated than they are at their home games although that isn’t really saying much. In the end, it was a laughable performance both on the field and in the stands from our opponents.

For more on the derby win, be sure to check out Matt and Ryan’s Postmatch Reaction live at 8:30 tonight or on demand pretty much anywhere you get your podcasts. It will be a great time for sure as we get to relive a satisfying derby win. I’ll be back later in the week with a Prematch Lookout for our next game against Oakland Roots. Until then, UP THE TIDE!