Nashville SC lays an egg in 0–2 home defeat to Indy Eleven

NASHVILLE — Nashville Soccer Club hasn’t had much luck with its high-profile debuts.

First USL match? An 0–2 defeat against the reigning league champs.

First home match? Several inches of rain but zero goals in a draw against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

And then tonight, making its first appearance on national television, NSC fell behind 2–0 inside of 35 minutes in the most flat half of soccer the Boys In Gold have produced all season.

Each of those things are going to happen over the course of a long USL campaign, but it’s just rotten luck that it’s happened to Nashville when everyone’s been watching. Lucky for Nashville, they’ve made the most of their second impressions. On this dour evening in Music City, however, Nashville SC was doomed by lack of inspiration in the final third, mistakes on the backline, and — most shocking of all — an error from Matt Pickens that let a harmless shot from Justin Braun trickle into the net. It was better from the Boys In Gold in the second half — the halftime change of Alan Winn for Ish Jome provided a spark — but Indy Eleven did well to limit NSC to toothless crosses into the box and a few optimistic shots from distance that failed to find the frame.

Gary Smith will rue the missed opportunity to move to second in the Eastern Conference table, which NSC would have attained with a win. Instead, the Boys In Gold stay fourth but are now level on points and goal difference with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

The good news for Nashville SC is they only have to wait until Saturday, when Atlanta United 2 come to town, to get back to winning ways. The bad news for Nashville SC is they only have until Saturday to rest a set of legs that never looked more tired than they did on Tuesday night.

Head to our Twitter feed and Periscope page for post-match comments from head coach Gary Smith.