USL Championship & CPL round-ups, May 24-26

The USL Championship weekend got off to a shocking start when Charleston Battery surrendered their unbeaten league record at home to basement dwellers El Paso Locomotive on Friday night. Locomotive under new boss Wilmer Cabrera were always going to be a different prospect to their lacklustre early season selves but the turning point in the game came when the home side lost Chris Allan to two yellow cards in three minutes at the end of the first-half, leaving them facing a game Texan side with just ten men for the entirety of the second-half. The visitors took advantage of the numbers with a nice goal from Amando Moreno in the 69th minute but failed to make further in-roads as the clock ticked down, allowing Jackson Conway to equalise for Battery with three minutes left of standard time. Just when they thought they'd rescued a point, though, Moreno grabbed his second two minutes into stoppage time to quiet the 3,257 home fans and end Charleston's eleven-match unbeaten run, Also on Friday night, Hartford Athletic ended a run of six defeats with 2-1 win over Monterey Bay SC. Michee Ngalina and Deshane Beckford scored either side of half-time for the Latics after Adrian Rebollar had given Union the lead to make it six games without a win for Frank Yallop's side, with the prospect of welcoming Charleston Battery in midweek to come. Friday's final match saw FC Tulsa face Oakland Roots at ONEOK Field, a decent crowd of 3,642 on hand to see their hometown heroes fall to Roots - still under the charge of interim coach Gavin Glinton - thanks to Miche-Naider Chéry's twentieth minute goal.

Saturday's run of games began in Providence, where Rhode Island FC hosted powerhouses Louisville City for the first time in their short history. Even with Albert Dikwa and Noah Fuson looking lively, the Seals failed to land a single shot on target, but at least their defence was up to keeping out the visitors, a 0-0 draw not exactly thrilling the almost 5,000 crowd but giving the home side a welcome point. Indy Eleven's magnificent run continued with a win over reigning champions Phoenix Rising in front of over 10,000 at Michael A Carroll Stadium. Rising went in front in the nineteenth minute when José Hernández headed in from a corner, but Indy got back on level terms seven minutes later, Jack Blake on target from the spot. The home side's game plan of ceding possession to the visitors worked well, the defence and midfield soaking up plenty of Phoenix pressure until Blake struck again midway through the second-half, direct from a free-kick past Rising 'keeper Nacho Rios Novo. Seven wins total, let alone seven in the last seven games like Indy, is something The Miami FC can only dream of and things worse for new head coach Antonio Nocerino on Saturday when promoted side North Carolina FC came to FIU Soccer Stadium and left with all three points. Not only that, but the visitors scored four without reply - Evan Conway, Oalex Anderson, Michael Maldonado, and Rodrigo da Costa all on target and all in the second-half - and it's hard to see where Miami go from here and how long their 1,000 loyal fans will stay patient.

Tampa Bay Rowdies, their Florida rivals up in St Petersburg, have no such troubles and a near-6,000 crowd at Al Lang Stadium saw them rack up another win on Saturday, beating Las Vegas Lights 1-0 thanks to Cal Jennings's eighth goal in eleven games. Lights had their share of the game but the Rowdies defence - even without Forest Lasso, out for the season - held fast. Memphis 901 haven't lost in the league for five weeks and they earned another hard-fought win over Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday, illustrating the perfect way to sit and absorb pressure from a capable opponent but still ensure the points are safely in the bag. Marlon, well on his way to have a shout at making the USL Championship Team of the Season - opened the scoring in the seventh minute, with Osacar Jimenez's second two minutes after the break completing the job for Stephen Glass's side, to the delight of the 3,000 crowd at AutoZone Park. Just as Real Salt Lake have been the surprise package of the MLS Western Conference this season, so too have New Mexico United in the USL Championship equivalent, coming from behind again on Saturday to beat San Antonio FC 2-1 at Isotopes Park. Over 8,500 were in attendance and looked to have had their hopes dashed early when Luke Haakenson opened the scoring for the visitors in the 21st minute, but the Kings of Chaos are not so easily cowed this season and goals from Houssou Landry and Greg Hurst gave them a 2-1 halftime lead. The second-half was goalless and the Texans day was completed by a second yellow card for Carter Manley in stoppage time. The win took United top of the Western Conference but leaves San Antonio looking a little average so far this season.

Orange County SC are on a terrible run of form of late, with just one win in six games before the visit of Loudoun United to Irvine's Championship Soccer Stadium on Saturday. Still, they're doing okay at the gate, with over 4,000 in to see if OC could earn revenge for the US Open Cup defeat at the hands of United eighteen days earlier. The simple answer is that they couldn't, with Florian Valot's goal just past the half-hour the difference between the sides until into stoppage time. That's when Ashton Miles brought down Loudoun's Wesley Leggett in the box and was shown a straight red card, with Zach Ryan converting the subsequent penalty to give the visitors a welcome 2-0 win on their latest fruitful trip out west. The weekend's final game came from northern California where Sacramento Republic were basking in the glory of knocking out San Jose Earthquakes of MLS in the Open Cup in midweek. Despite the weekend's biggest crowd of 10,188, it was all a bit "after the Lord Mayor's show" when Birmingham Legion came to town on Saturday, with each side having just one shot on target, and just Juan Sebastian Herrera's red card for violent conduct for Republic troubling the scorers. 

Week seven in the Canadian Premier League began in the Toronto suburbs on Friday night as York United entertained HFX Wanderers from Nova Scotia in front of a 1,226 crowd. Wanderers are winless so far this season, with just a point to show for their efforts, and they came away from York Lions Stadium with just Ryan Telfer's consolation effort eight minutes from time, after Austin Ricci and Dennis Salanovic had given the Nine Stripes a 2-0 lead. Saturday's clash of Ontario heavyweights Atletico Ottawa and Forge FC looks one-sided on paper, but it was simply a case of the home side making more of their chances. A wonder strike from Manny Aparacio opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour, but it took until the 72nd minute for Atletico to double their lead, Alberto Zapater heading home from Ollie Bassett's free-kick. Ruben del Campo scored his seventh goal in nine games to tie things up eight minutes from time, putting the capital side four points clear at the top of the table.

After going four games without a win before last week's surprise win over Forge FC in Hamilton, Vancouver FC moved up to second in the table with another good win on Saturday in the BC derby over Pacific FC. Ayman Sellouf had given the visitors an early lead when he converted a penalty kick given for an unfortunate handball in the sixth minute, but Kiwi striker Moses Dyer got the Eagles back on level terms five minutes before half-time, bundling the ball over the line from close range. For the majority of the second-half, it looked like the game would play out to a draw, but Vasco Fry popped up five minutes before time to break the Tridents' hearts, robbing a sleepy Pacific defender and then slotting home after Jose Navarro's effort was saved. That just left Sunday's meeting of Cavalry FC and Valour FC in Calgary, a Great Plains derby that finished honours even at ATCO Field. Juan Pablo Sanchez put the visitors - buoyed by last week's win in Halifax - in front just past the half-hour, but Fraser Aird's leveller eight minutes later ensured Valour went back to Winnipeg with just a point in the bag.