Despite dominating much of the proceedings, Birmingham Legion needed a stoppage time goal to get a point against North Carolina FC.
The Three Sparks held possession for much of the game but struggled to find the penetrative pass to break down a very organized NCFC team. While North Carolina posed a threat on the counter in the first half, the visiting team did not register a single shot — and that one a hopeful lob from distance — in the second half until deep into stoppage time.
Despite that domination, it took Legion until the sixth minute of added time to finally put the ball in the opposition’s net. A valiant effort, but a single point at a stage when anything other than three is essentially meaningless.
“I thought the performance wasn’t a bad performance,” Mark Briggs said. “We created some decent moments, just the final detail let us down. But the way they carried on fighting, the way they kept pushing until the end of the game was great to see.”
North Carolina got the first shot of the game in the ninth minute, but it was otherwise nearly all-Legion in the opening half-hour. But despite retaining the possession, most of the passes went either sideways among the centerbacks or into midfield and then straight back to defense as North Carolina marshalled their defensive lines with discipline.
Dawson McCartney had the game’s first shot on target in the 15th minute, but it wasn’t until Enzo Martínez’ attempt from the edge of the box in the 23rd minute that NCFC goalkeeper Oliver Semmle was truly tested.
“We had the extra body in the middle of the field, but we didn’t utilize it,” Briggs said. “Pasher going wide, Enzo going wide, everyone going wide and we have the extra body in the middle. It just felt like we weren’t threatening enough and we didn’t give ourselves the opportunity by having sequences of possession in the attacking half.”
AJ Paterson made a crucial sliding tackle to deny a point-blank shot in the 17th minute and Stephen Turnbull raced back to shut down another long ball over the top two minutes later, but other than those rare, direct counter-attacks NCFC looked content to sit with 11 men behind the ball and wait for their chance.
That opportunity came in the 32nd minute.
Fernando Delgado came out for a cross but could only punch it straight to NCFC’s JahLane Forbes. The midfielder hit it first-time over the now-stranded goalkeeper to open the scoring.
North Carolina grew into the game as a result of their oppener, and Legion might have feared to concede a second in quick succession as has become far-too-customary for this team. However, by the 40th minute the Three Sparks were back on top.
The final big chance of the half came off an intricate passing play on the edge of the box that eventually saw Amir Daley race to the byline. The wing-back’s cross was however overhit and went all the way out for a throw-in.
Briggs said he told his players at the break that if they continued to dominate like they had, the chances would come. It took the team just 34 seconds to confirm that as Martínez dragged a shot just wide almost immediately after the restart.
From there on out, it was one-way traffic.
The ball remained in North Carolina’s half of the field for nearly the entire second half, but though there were more chances, none of them truly threatened Semmle.
Tyler Pasher found Dawson McCartnney with a beautiful ball over the top only for the midfielder’s shot to be deflected for a corner 48 minutes in. Then, on the hour mark, Peter-Lee Vassell curled a shot just over the bar from the edge of the box. Other than that, Legion had most of the ball but little to show for it.
Briggs made a triple change in the 72nd minute, only for one of his substitues, Sebastian Tregarthen, to suffer an injury six minutes later. The enforced sub led to a rethink of several players’ positions, including a move for Stephen Turnbull from right center-back to left wing-back.
Though not the original plan, it proved fruitful in the 96th minute.
Martínez attempted a shot in the box that pinged off a few players before falling to Erik Centeno. The right wing-back made the clever decision to cut the ball back rather than cross it, and Turnbull was there to score the first goal of his Legion career.
“Chasing the game, and I’m an attacking-minded player, so I was just going for it,” Turnbull said. “Just trying to help the team any way I could.
“I’m happy to score my first goal since I’ve been here,” he added. “I think it took far too long, but that’s just the way it goes. But I was happy to get the goal. Obviously I wish it would have came 10-15 minutes earlier, could have given us a chance to maybe go 2-1 up and get a result.”
With still four minutes left in stoppage time due to multiple injury breaks and extensive NCFC time wasting, Legion pushed for the winner. But though North Carolina players looked dead on their feet, the Three Sparks weren’t able to double their goals tally before the final whistle blew.
With the result putting Legion one game away — whether a Birmingham loss or rival win — from mathematical elimination, a lot of focus has already turned to next season. That has allowed for a bit more experimentation on Briggs’ part, notably with a shift to centerback for Turnbull.
“Stephen’s done really well there,” Briggs said. “He has quality in possession. He can break lines with his passing. He can play longer balls, he can play shorter balls and he’s a good defender. He’s got pace, he uses his body well to win aerial duels and he’s not afraid to put his foot in.
“But one of the main things for me is Stephen talks, and Stephen has leadership qualities,” he continued. “That, for me, is a big thing.”
In the two games he’s played there, Legion have conceded just once and allowed a total of 1.03 expected goals in those 180 minutes. Contrast that with the 19 goals conceded in the previous seven games (2.71 per game) and the defense has seen a clear improvement that can hopefully carry them into a better 2026.
“That’s the plan,” Turnbull said. “The plan is to take what we’ve done in the last two games. We went 12 games without a shutout, so to have a clean sheet against a team like San Antonio who’s pretty good at scoring goals was a big achievement for us. … Moving forward for us, that’s the bare minimum, to not give up any goals. You can’t win games if you’re giving up goals.”
This newfound defensive resilience will be tested again in short order as the Three Sparks face a quick turnaround to their next game. Legion travel to Virginia to take on a Loudoun United side desperate to hang on to their fourth spot in the Eastern Conference, synonymous with the final home playoff spot.
“It’s just about getting re-energized, getting our bodies back, getting everyone as healthy as we possible can,” Briggs said ahead of his team’s third game in eight days.
Anything other than a win for Birmingham will officially confirm what everyone already knows, the Three Sparks will be going a second consecutive year without a postseason.
Birmingham Legion face Loudoun United at 4 p.m. Saturday October 4. The game will be broadcast locally on WABM My68 and streamed nationwide on ESPN+.
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