El Paso Locomotive spoil Hartford's home opener

Trinity Health Stadium welcomed back the USL Championship and home side Hartford Athletic Saturday afternoon. The squad looking to play spoiler was El Paso Locomotive. The Texas squad did just that and got it going early.

Beto Avila capitalized off of a poor Hartford header clearance in the 10th minute to open the scoring. Avila's goal came from a set piece where a poor clearance led to a blocked shot, which deflected into Avila's path and the forward dispatched the right foot finish.

Hartford equalized in the 29th minute when Michee Ngalina tight roped the touch line and played Jonathan Jimenez, who slipped a ball through to talisman Mamadou Dieng, the Senegalese Striker made no mistake and was able to carom the ball into the side netting.

The game remained tied and it looked as if both teams would split the points....then heartbreak struck for Hartford. A near post header off of a corner kick, literally fell into the lap of defender Wahab Ackwei who guided the winner into the net for El Paso.

Hartford has a quick turnaround as they travel to Lewiston, Maine for a colossal New England derby vs Portland Hearts of Pine in the 2nd round of the US Open Cup on Wednesday.

Hartford resumes USL play next Saturday when they travel to Loudon United. Post Loudon Hartford hosts Indy Eleven and Birmingham Legion in back to back weekends at Fortress Hartford.