Injuries, school duties limiting effectiveness

For the first time since they stepped down from United Soccer Leagues First Division to USL2, the Richmond Kickers have lost back-to-back games. In fact, they got outscored 5-0 by Charlotte and Crystal Palace Baltimore and reside in the lower half of the standings.

Not the normal scenario for the local professional club, which won the USL2 title in 2006 and was runner-up last season. But not totally unexpected either, according to coach Leigh Cowlishaw.

"I'll be honest," Cowlishaw said. "With the players we have, to get a point against Charlotte (3-0) or Crystal Palace (2-0) would have been a bonus. I'm not overly concerned, because I'm dealing with half a squad. Obviously, you want to win matches, and the farther you get behind, the harder it is [to make the playoffs].

"But I also know it's a long season, and we've finished first and we've finished last for a playoff spot, and we've reached the final on different occasions. We've just got to improve. We've got to get our squad healthy and improve our level of performance. If we do that, I think we'll be in great shape. It's a good challenge for these guys because a lot of them haven't been in this situation for a while."

Because of injuries, school graduations and visa problems, the Kickers (1-2) only had two reserves for Sunday's 2-0 loss in Baltimore. Forward Ben Hunter, midfielder Eliot Paschalis and defender Kevin Knight were not available because of injuries, and Stanley Nyazamba was graduating from college. Fabian Dawkins hasn't yet arrived from Jamaica.

Cowlishaw wants team to shake bad habits

The Kickers are idle this weekend, before returning to the field on May 17 at Western Mass., a team Richmond defeated 3-0 in its home opener.

A chance to get back to basics and work on specific plays?

"There's a limited amount of tactical work you can do with the number of [healthy] players we have," Cowlishaw said. "We really want to address some of the winning habits and our speed of play. Those are the two main factors we've really given the other teams. We just gave them the goals. We may as well have just thrown it in the back of the net on several occasions. There have been some poor defensive plays."

"On another day, we could easily have scored several goals against Crystal Palace and Charlotte. Not that we're playing well enough, I feel, to deserve winning, but I think we've been unlucky in the first half. But if you give away silly goals, you're going to get hurt. That's our issue right now. There's plenty to work on."

Kickers Future club opens season tonight

The Richmond Kickers Future open their season today at home against Rhode Island. The 7 p.m. start is set for Sports Backers Stadium. The Future plays in the Premier Development League for amateurs and has a new coach this season in Kyle Lessig. -- John Packett