Following a night to forget Wednesday against Rhode Island, Birmingham Legion are eager to set things right.

They get their first chance to do so this afternoon when they host Detroit City FC at 4 p.m.

“It’s always good when you have a game in a few days,” Mark Briggs said following Wednesday’s disappointment. “It’s a quick turnaround, so you kind of move on to the next game. And you’re able to try and put the wrongs of tonight right.

“I hope the guys go home tonight, I hope they look in the mirror,” he added. “They look in the mirror and they’re honest with themselves. And then we come back tomorrow and we’re ready to work because we face a very, very good Detroit team on Sunday.”

Today’s encounter will be already the second time the two teams meet following a 2-2 draw at Keyworth Stadium earlier this season. Since then, the Michigan side have picked up 9 points to Legion’s 4. They now find themselves 5th in the Easter Conference standings.

Birmingham, on the other hand, stand in 10th and have yet to defeat an Easter Conference opponent this year.

“When you lose a game like [against Rhode Island], you’re very up for the next game,” Phanuel Kavita said. “You want to get back on the field to fix what just happened. So it’s exciting to have a game coming up because then we know we can step back on the field and get a result.”

One big change since the previous encounter between these two teams is the change in Legion head coach. Tom Soehn was still in charge when the Three Sparks made the trip up North, potentially giving the team a slight advantage in that they know better what to expect of their opponents than their opponents do them.

However, Briggs is in no way an enigma to this Detroit side, most notably due to their coach. Danny Dichio was a West Bromwich Albion player back when Briggs was breaking through at the West Midlands club. And Dichio later went on to spend two years as an assistant for Briggs at Sacramento before taking on his current role.

Another former Briggs disciple who is set to face his mentor later this year is Matt Glaeser, head coach for USL League One side Forward Madison. He said these type of encounters, though fairly common in the soccer world, create a very unique situation.

“It presents a unique challenge,” Glaeser said about his team’s July 26 USL Jägermeister Game in Birmingham. “It’ll be interesting to see if either [head coach] decide to make some adjustments or change things up a little bit knowing that the other one has a pretty deep insight into what [they] value.”

Briggs only faced Dichio’s Detroit once as Sacramento head coach, winning the encounter 1-0 in Michigan. He does also hold a 100% record against the Michigan club in his three games against them.

But he knows he will need more from his team if he wants to extend that record.

“We’ve got to pick the guys up, we’ve got to analyse certain things, got to have some individual conversations and we’ve got to lift the level and we’ve got to lift the energy,” Briggs said.

“When we play at home, we should be excited,” he continued. “I didn’t feel that excitement [Wednesday] from the guys. So we’ve got to get that excitement. We’ve got to get the fans behind us. We’ve got to make people on the edge of their seat when they watch us. And you don’t do that unless you give maximum effort.”

Legion will be without the suspended Sam McIllhaton for today’s encounter following his red card in the previous game. AJ Paterson also remains out with injury, while Lucca Dourado has left the club on loan for the remainder of the season.

The Three Sparks have one new face who could make his Birmingham debut provided league and federation approval came through in time. Legion announced the signing of Colombian midfielder Edwin Laszo from FC Tulsa on Friday.

Birmingham Legion FC host Detroit City FC at 4 p.m. at Protective Stadium.

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