Birmingham Legion handed out free caps to the first 1,000 fans through their gates ahead of their matchup with Hartford Athletic. Some fans might have wanted to use them to cover their eyes as the Three Sparks put in a shameful performance in one of their biggest games of the season.

With the Eastern Conference incredibly tight at the bottom, but most competitors with one or more games in hand over Legion, Birmingham needed the win against a direct rival. Instead, the team ghosted through the first half before falling to a 1-4 loss.

“I’m embarrassed,” Mark Briggs said. “I’m the head coach. It’s on me. I’m embarrassed. I want to apologize to our fans, our owners, you guys, it’s just, yeah…. That won’t happen again. I can promise you that. I’m sorry, guys. I apologize. That’s unacceptable.”

After a chaotic game in Phoenix last week, there were questions over which Legion team would turn up. Matt van Oekel, Dawson McCartney and Phanuel Kavita all returned to the starting lineup following injury, but the rest of the team remained unchanged from the Arizona game.

It was thus perhaps to be expected that the opening half-hour was quite similar to that game against Phoenix Rising. With the midfield near invisible, Birmingham struggled to create any real chances going forward and found themselves two goals down within 30 minutes.

“I wish I knew [why the team came out flat],” Briggs said. “It’s not new, right? Warm up seemed good today, they seemed focused. And then we come out and freeze. I’m not sure how to even explain that.”

The first goal came from the penalty spot in the 27th minute.

Mamadou Dieng, Hartford’s in-form player, spun AJ Paterson in the box before being brought down by the defender. He dusted himself off and calmly sent van Oekel the wrong way to open the scoring.

Less than three minutes later, he doubled his tally.

Maliek Howell, making his second start for the Legion, misread a ball over the top and lost out to Hartford’s Michee Ngalina. The forward raced down the left flank, drawing both Kavita and Paterson across to try and block him. That left Dieng wide open at the back post for a simple tap in.

Mark Briggs called Tyler Pasher, his captain, over immediately in the wake of that second goal. Pasher eventually switched wings with Samuel Shashoua as the team tried to get back in the game, but though the Three Sparks exhibited a bit more energy they never truly threatened the Hartford goal.

Sebastian Tregarthen was Legion’s liveliest player on the night.

The young Uruguayan got the team’s best chance when he dribbled through a couple of bodies before poking a shot at goal in the 35th minute. He showed that same energy early in the second half to rifle one into the side netting just two minutes after the restart.

“Tonight, there was one player on that pitch who gave everything,” Briggs. “He made mistakes like everybody else did, but Sebastian Tregarthen at least ran. Put challenges in for headers, took shots, tried to take his defender on.

“But when you only have one player in a team of 11, it makes it really difficult,” he continued. “I wish the other 10 players on that field had the same energy and same attitude as Sebastian, because we wouldn’t be standing in this press conference and we wouldn’t be having this message.”

Birmingham made two changes at the break, though both had likely more to do with fitness than tactics. Kavita and McCartney were withdrawn on their returns from injury, with Jake Rufe and Stephen Turnbull taking their places, respectively.

While the Three Sparks showed more intensity in the second half, chances continued to be at a premium.

The Black and Gold’s night was then summed up in the 63rd minute.

Tyler Pasher rattled the crossbar with a curling effort from distance. The rebound fell to Samuel Shashoua in the box, and the Englishman drew a foul for a penalty. Like Dieng before him, Legion’s loan signing stepped up to take it himself but Antony Siaha guessed right to parry it out.

The drama was not over as the referee ordered the spot kick to be retaken after Siaha had come off his line. Shashoua stepped up a second time and changed side, but Hartford’s 6’5″ shot stopper put in a full-stretch dive to tip the second attempt off the post.

“You get a penalty in the first place, okay you miss it, but you get a second chance and you still don’t take it,” Briggs said after explaining that Pasher attempted to take the do-over but the referee said he was not permitted to do so.

Birmingham eventually pulled Howell in the 75th minute to bring on an extra forward, but even the added firepower could not solve the team’s issues. Legion won a a couple of corners in the final moments, but never looked likely to threaten a goal.

Things then went from bad to worse just as the fourth official held the board up for five minutes of stoppage time. Hartford ripped through the center of Birmingham’s defense to add a third. Minutes later, Tregarthen slipped while dribbling out the back, and Hartford pounced for a fourth.

Tregarthen did his best to make up for it by providing the assist for an Enzo Martínez consolation with the last kick of the game. But even as the light show celebrating the goal went on, Briggs was shaking his head in frustration that anybody felt like celebrating a meaningless goal in such a dire performance.

“As a group, there has to be players on that field who are going to give 100%, 100% of the time,” Briggs said. “That’s a basic. When you say to a kid, that’s just a basic thought when you go on the field. Hard work, give everything.

“If you don’t have that, the quality of a player or his technical ability is irrelevant,” he continued. “Some of our guys want to do things when we have the ball. They want to try whatever they want to try, but don’t want to do, one, the hard work, and, two, what’s needed for the team.”

With a bye week next weekend for a league-mandated mental health break, Birmingham Legion will get a couple days off to reflect on the disappointing showing.

The team does not play again until their trip to Rhode Island on August 20 for their USL Jägermeister Cup quarterfinal. With that 10-day break available to them, Briggs said it was time for everyone to have a long think about what is going wrong at the club.

“Results like this are damaging for everyone, myself included,” Briggs said. “There are moments in seasons, in careers that you have to look deeply, deeply into it. And you have to look to the root of the problem. And sometimes change is needed.”

Birmingham Legion are back in action at 6 p.m. CT Aug. 20 at Rhode Island. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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