Huff and puff: Sacramento Republic 0, Oakland Roots 0

Sacramento Republic FC largely dominated proceedings for the final 70 minutes, but they could not get the desperately-needed breakthrough and settled for a 0-0 draw against Oakland Roots on Wednesday at Heart Health Park.

It’s the second consecutive result for Sac Republic, which is the good news, following up their last-second draw at the weekend against San Diego Loyal, but the bad news is Sacramento’s winless run is now extended to eight games, and the club remains second-last in the Pacific Division off one of their games in hand.

The teams were pretty even to start the game, the opening 20 minutes cagey and neither team getting a clear chance. Cameron Iwasa had a good shot just after the 20 minute mark, his angled attempt just barely missing the far post after being tipped by an Oakland defender.

Dariusz Formella had the ball in the back of the net in the 30th minute off a Pete Penannen free kick, but the goal was waived off because of a foul call in the scrum on the set piece, so the game remained scoreless.

Sac Republic really pushed for the opener as the first half wore on but couldn’t find the goal in the opening 45, as the teams went into the locker room tied 0-0.

Sacramento continued to push hard in the second half, with Dan Casey nearly scoring off a corner kick just before the hour mark, his header going just on the wrong side of the goal post.

Moments earlier, Kharlton Belmar replaced Bone in Republic FC’s lineup.

The home side really pummeled their opponent, with a 15-0 edge in shots past the 70th minute mark before Oakland registered their first shot in the game, but shots on target were a more modest margin, 3-0 in Sac Republic’s favor to that point.

Mark Briggs made changes in the 73rd minute, with Fatai Alashe returning to action for Luis Felipe, and Julian Chavez replacing Iwasa, the academy product on the field with fellow youngster Mario Penagos, as Republic FC sought some late-game heroics to get the win.

But it never came and the teams finished the match deadlocked. This was a game where the good news was that Sacramento played well overall and dominated the run of play, but on a terrible run that’s scant consolation for a team that desperately needs wins. Mark Briggs is making changes game over game to try and jumpstart the team, but they haven’t found the breakthrough yet, and things are getting pretty dire with yet another game without a win.

Next up is another game on short rest, this one Saturday at Heart Health Park against Orange County SC. OCSC is on a roll, sitting in 2nd place in the Pacific Division at present, but can Sac Republic grab a vital six-pointer? That’s the big question.

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