It was not the best start to the evening for the Birmingham Legion during its trip to Louisville City on Saturday night but despite a slow first half, the club found itself level with the hosts after an hour of play with plenty of momentum on its side. But two key calls from the official put Birmingham back on its heels and eventually led to the club's first defeat in almost two months.
Louisville City moved into first place in the Eastern Conference as a penalty in the 83rd minute secured a 2-1 victory against the 10-man Legion team at Lynn Family Stadium. Birmingham saw its four-match winning streak come to an end as it still sits in sixth place in the conference with 25 points through 16 matches, which is now 11 points off of the leaders.
"The first half wasn’t our best soccer," Legion coach Tommy Soehn said after the match. "We played to their strengths, but then we made some adjustments and came back for the second half and put them under the gun a little bit. There are different elements to every game, and obviously there is some disappointment to this one, but we’re used to going through waves, coming back, and turning it around in the next one. That’s what we do."
The crucial moment came in the 80th minute when Louisville's Brian Ownby was played in behind the Legion defense and had a one-on-one chance against Matt VanOekel. The Legion goalkeeper reacted quickly to greet the onrushing attacker and appeared to get a touch on the ball, knocking it off Ownby's feet.
However, the referee wasted very little time before pointing to the spot to award Louisville city a penalty kick, its league-leading sixth of the season and fourth in the last five matches. After a couple of minutes of protests from Legion players which included defenders Alex Crognale and Phanuel Kavita each picking up yellow cards for dissent, Sean Totsch put his shot just to the left of a diving VanOekel to give Louisville City the lead for good.
“(VanOekel) 100 percent got a touch on the ball," Soehn said on the penalty decision. "That’s why the call was so disappointing because it felt like that was such an influencer of the game and it shouldn’t have been. He actually did a really good job to come out and get the ball."
Soehn was shown a red card on the touchline for continuing to argue the call after the penalty was taken.
After the first 45 minutes, it did not seem like Birmingham would still be in the game late. The visitors failed to record a shot on target and had just 31 percent of possession in the first half. Louisville City created several chances during that time, capitalizing on a set piece in the 32nd minute when Joshua Wynder's header found the back of the net for the opening goal.
“No, it really wasn’t our doing, it was their doing," Soehn said of the slow start. "They did a really good job of forcing us deep in the pockets and we adjusted at halftime and I think it was a lot better. But, it was not by choice to sit in that deep. They came out and had a better first half than we did. No if’s, and’s or but’s about it. Second half I thought we made adjustments that kind of changed the game. We had plenty of chances to come out with at least a point and maybe even steal something, especially a man down.”
Birmingham started the night with the same starting lineup which led to the last four victories but changes were made at halftime. Bruno Lapa and Anderson Asiedu, two staples in starting lineups of the past, came on to start the second half as the Legion quickly became more aggressive.
The leveling goal came in the 52nd minutes thanks to a couple of moments of magic from Marlon Santos and Enzo Martinez. Santos helped create the chance after making a run into the corner before spinning through two defenders and playing a squared ball across the box. It was touched on by a Louisville City defender but only as far as Martinez, who took two touches before firing a shot into the top right corner of the net.
“I think the message was really clear, that we’re fortunate to be only 1-0 down, and we haven’t even tried to play yet," Soehn said about his message to the locker room at halftime. "If we start playing, it will flip the game on its head, and then it did. We got one early in the second half and then all of a sudden the game switched.”
Unfortunately for the Legion, the game did not stay switched for long and it was a referee decision that was at the center of attention.
In the 65th minute, Mikey Lopez committed a foul in the midfield and was shown a second yellow card, resulting in a red card and leaving the visitors with 10 players for the remaining half hour of the match. Lopez's first yellow card came in the ninth minute.
"I was more disappointed in the early first yellow," Soehn said. "Mikey got ball and that early in the game, you have to let the game settle in. The second one, he's got to be smarter when you're on a yellow to not stand people up. You can't dive in and unfortunately, he got caught. Mikey is experienced enough to know not to do that... you've just got to be smarter."
Birmingham struggled to create chances after that with just two shots in the final 30 minutes, neither of them being on target. The Legion finished with five shots, just two on target, and 40 percent of possession. Birmingham was shown six yellow cards and two red cards in the match, compared to just two yellows for Louisville City. VanOekel finished with four saves.
The Legion have a short break as the club returns to the South but remain on the road this week. It will play against Atlanta United 2 on Wednesday night with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. before traveling to Charleston for another road match Saturday.
"Sometimes having a game in a short amount of time helps to get over that disappointment real fast," Soehn said.