The Richmond Kickers won their First Round match of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, 1-0 over Christos FC. Kickers newcomer and 2022 USL League One Comeback Player of the Year, Adrian Bilhardt scored the only goal of the match in first half stoppage time. The hosts earned a much needed win at City Stadium after being winless at home since July 3, 2023.
Richmond was seeking revenge as the last time these two teams met, the amateur side Christos FC earned a 1-0 win. Billhardt put the Kickers’ fans at ease as he delivered the game’s only goal after the Kickers goalkeeper, Pablo Jara played a direct ball over the top of the Christos defense. After a failed attempted clearance by a Christos defender, Billhardt maintained position and shot it low and hard past the goalkeeper.
Richmond Kickers head coach, Darren Sawatzky, spoke highly of Billhardt after the game.
“He scored a great goal, he’s a smart player and he was a little banged up and tired from the Spokane trip but he’s a threat for us and he’s a very good player that takes the pressure off of Nil (Vinyals) and when Emi (Terzaghi) is healthy we are going to have a pretty potent attack,” said Sawatzky.
Adrian on the spot ????#UpTheRoos???? pic.twitter.com/TsDz1VdkZO
— Richmond Kickers ???? (@RichmondKickers) March 20, 2024
Billhardt’s goal, his third career Open Cup game-winning goal (and his third career goal) was a bright spot in what was otherwise a frustrating evening for the Kickers. Christos FC set up a low block that the Kickers had a difficult time breaking through during the entire match. Despite being down, Christos FC held onto hope throughout the match and threatened Richmond late.
In the 88th minute, Christos FC sent everybody forward and with the ball on its way into the box the Christos believed it met the arm of a Kickers player, but the referee did not make the call. The fireworks continued as the Christos FC bench continued to make the appeal for a handball, the referee decided he had heard enough and he issued a red card to the Christos FC assistant coach.
Frustration was very much a theme of the evening for both sides. Richmond showed signs of fatigue that can be attributed to traveling to Washington state to play USL League One newcomers, Spokane Velocity. Head coach, Darren Sawatzky spoke to the challenge of traveling across the country and back.
“I thought we had done most of what we needed to do in terms of our legs,” said Sawatzky. “The guys definitely showed that trip all the way across the country and back, we looked tired and fatigued tonight, Nil stepped on a couple of balls which is not like him. It took us a while to get going, we found a goal, we locked it down and got a win. I’m proud of the guys.”
Despite the fatigue, Richmond pulled out a win against a very challenging and motivated Christos FC.
The Kickers will turn their attention to USL League One competition as they are set to play against Billhardt’s former club South Georgia Tormenta at home on Saturday.
