Weekend Results

Legion earn another draw; Huntsville's streak ends

Apologies for the delay in posting results for the weekend

Birmingham Legion FC

Image credit: Matt Ralph

Saturday's game against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds was another frustrating result for Legion. There was a new lineup rolled out that had Shashoua in the midfield instead of Enzo Martinez, and he played very well. The changes led to Birmingham having a more even performance in midfield, which has been a significant weakspot for the team. With that improved play, Birmingham took the lead midway through the first half on a fluke goal. Ronaldo Damus came free and fired a shot straight at the ‘hounds keeper, who put his hands up for what should have been an easy save. Somehow the ball spun away and into the net. It was a shocker, as Eric Dick was last year's Golden Glove winner. Throughout the first half, Legion had the better run of play, and almost added to the lead just before halftime, but Preston Tabort-Etaka fired the ball just over the bar. The score stayed 1-0 at the half.

Pittsburgh made two substitutions at the half, and the beginning of the second half saw Pittsburgh moving the ball a little bit better than they did in the first half. Lilley went to the bench again and brought on two more players at around the 60 minute mark. Almost immediately after, as Pittsburgh was looking to push forward, Kavita went up and headed the ball to Damus, who was on his way to a one-on-one meeting with the Riverhounds keeper - but the offsides flag went up. The replay looked like this was a blown call, as there was a player a little farther from the play that had Damus onsides. In the immediate aftermath, Pittsburgh quickly played the ball forward, and a cross into the Legion box caught AJ Patterson on the wrong foot as it made it through to Augi Williams for the equalizer. There's plenty of ink out there about the phenomenon where a team scores a goal and then concedes one soon after. For Legion, the trouble seems to come immediately after the opposing team makes substitutions. It's not always one of the players that just came on, but the change in personnel causes problems for Birmingham. Legion pushed hard, and had one more great chance near the end, but it was another shot too high. Final score was 1-1.

The draw was a disappointment, after Legion really should have gotten three points. They did move one spot higher in the table, even with Miami, but with the tiebreaker in Birmingham's favor. Legion has the fewest wins of any team in the league (4), and their current tally of 8 draws sets the mark for the most in any season in the team's history.

Legion also brought a new keeper onto the roster. Trevor McMullen joined the club after a brief trial period. He was announced Saturday afternoon and was in the final 18 for the Pittsburgh game. He's Legion's fourth rostered keeper on paper, although Trevor Spangenberg has been unavailable since early in the season.

Huntsville City FC

Image credit: Chattanooga FC

Huntsville's unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday night in Chattanooga. CFC seems to have Huntsville's number, and the match makes a clean sweep for Chattanooga in the season series. Given that all three games were each decided by a single goal, it feels like a stretch to say that CFC has their number. But consider this: Huntsville has lost just five games this year, and three of those losses were to Chattanooga.

Statistically, Huntsville dominated the game. They took a whopping 25 shots compared to CFC's 7, and put 6 of those on target, compared to just 2 on target for Chattanooga. Huntsville also had 76% possession. Despite all of that, Chattanooga came away with a 1-0 win at home. Newcomer Luke Husakiwsky scored the loan goal with a header from a long throw-in 22 minutes into the game, and that would be enough.

Scoreboard watching

After a few weeks where the table hasn't seen much movement, this past weekend's results started to show some separation developing in the lower end of the table. There's still time for Birmingham to get above the playoff line, but draws won't get it done. The Legion has nine games remaining, and seven of those are against teams that are above the playoff line. That includes three of the top four teams from the East (Charleston. NC, Loudon) and two of the top four teams from the West (Tulsa. San Antonio). It's going to be a tough road.

Hartford Athletic 3-0 Rhode Island. Hartford sold Mamadou Dieng to Minnesota United, but didn't miss a beat.

Indy Eleven 3-2 Miami FC

Detriot City 2-0 Tampa Bay