Despite another strong outing, Birmingham Legion split the points with Miami FC following a Thursday night contest.

Miami traveled to the Magic City as the higher-ranked of the two teams, but it was Legion who looked the more likely to take all three points. Poor finishing and lack of composure however costs the Three Sparks, who had to settle for their second 0-0 draw at Protective this season.

“It was a tough night in terms of how we finished,” Jay Heaps said. “I like the way we played through portions of the game. […] We had every chance to win that game. So we look in the mirror, it’s gotta be what four chances that we had we didn’t finish. We’ve got to be better at that.”

As has been the case in most games this season, Birmingham started with a lot of the ball and a clear desire to put their opponents in uncomfortable situations.

Their first real chance came in the 12th minute following some strong dribbling by Gevork Diarbian down the left flank. The winger pulled the ball back to Tyler Pasher, and between him and Ronaldo Damus they got the ball out of their feet only for the Haitian to poke it just wide of the post.

Moments later, Miami had a penalty shout as Jürgen Locadia went down in the box. The referee waved play on, but replays showed Amir Daley had extended his leg and made contact with the Curaçao international forward.

Locadia remained on the floor for quite some time as Miami’s medical staff came out to assist him. It turned out to be the first of two injury breaks as Legion’s Ramiz Hamouda went to ground some 10 minutes later.

Hamouda sat down off the ball shortly after attempting a long ball, suggesting he might have tweaked a muscle in the process. Unlike Locadia, the youngster could not recover and was forced off on the half-hour mark in favor of Phanuel Kavita.

“That was tough,” Heaps said. “He’s one of those players that is getting better every game. And as you saw, it changes things because all of a sudden the way we’re set up, the balance of being able to go either side [is impacted]. And Raz is able to drive lines and break passing lanes.

“So that was tough, but it was great to have Keegan [Hughes] here,” he added. “He played great.”

With a future transfer to Werder Bremen already announced for the Three Sparks’ wonderkid once he turns 18 — something that will happen less than 20 days, on May 26 — there is a chance we have seen the last of Hamouda in a Legion jersey. Heaps revealed the defender won’t depart until the end of June, when Bremen’s preseason camp begins, but the severity of his injury and how long it might keep him out are unknown at this time.

Legion had to manage several minutes down to 10 men as the ball refused to go out to allow Kavita on, but the Three Sparks weathered the storm and eventually returned to a full contingent.

Then, in the 36th minute, they had their best chance yet.

Diarbian timed a run off the ball perfectly to run through on goal, and Pasher threaded the ball right into his path. But the winger’s attempt was well parried by Miami’s goalkeeper.

Damus slid in to try and score the rebound but could only force a corner.

“That’s one thing we just talked about as a group,” Heaps said. “We know the chances are going to come. It’s one thing not to get chances, I think I’d be more frustrated with that, but when you finally get the chance, you’ve got to put it away.”

Sebastian Tregarthen got the last chance of the half off a free-kick, but the Uruguayan could not keep his shot down to trouble the goalkeeper. Miami, meanwhile, did not attempt a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

Legion returned unchanged from the halftime break and didn’t need long to resume their first-half pattern.

In the 55th minute, Damus did brilliantly to beat his man to a ball over the top and put in an inch-perfect low cross for Tregarthen to run onto. The winger could not keep his shot down however and sent the attempt well over the bar.

Heaps brought in Peter-Lee Vassell on the hour mark in an effort to change things, and the winger needed little time to get involved. Five minutes after his introduction, he tested the keeper with a shot from distance. But while he kept it on target, the attempt was too central and easy to collect for the goalkeeper.

Diarbian was the next to go close off a fast break, but he could not bend his shot around the defending Miami opposition. The visitors then used the block to go all the way up the other end and force Jassem Koleilat into his first save of the night, though a fairly straightforward one.

Heaps attempted his final roll of the dice in the 79th minute with a triple change. Sebastián Saucedo, Serge Ngoma and Romario Williams all came on for Diarbian, Damus and Pasher, meaning the team was now operating with a completely different front four than they had started the game with.

The newly-introduced trio did not have many chances to make an impact, though some intricate passing nearly created a golden chance two minutes from time. Ngoma’s flick to Saucedo gave him the ball on the edge of the box, but the winger couldn’t sort out his feet fast enough to lay it off for Williams to strike.

“I think we were there,” Dawson McCartney said. “We just couldn’t get that final product. We would get it in the final third and either that last pass or that last shot let us down.”

Koleilat was twice called into action a minute into three added on to deny Miami a late winner. Ngoma then ran down the other end but could not place his shot either side of Miami’s keeper with the last chance of the game.

Legion can be pleased to have kept another clean sheet — already their fourth of the season — but will feel they should have taken more from the game. While the draw temporarily moves them up to sixth in the East, a win would have pulled them level with Miami.

“[The clean sheets] have been amazing,” McCartney said. “We’ve had a lot of guys moving in and out of spots at center back and outside back, and Jaz [Jassem Koleilat]’s come into the team and he’s done an amazing job. He’s a brick wall back there and he’s helped us out a bit.

“Even though we’ve been switching a lot, switching out a lot of guys, we still have a lot of chemistry and we’ve been able to hold things down pretty well back there,” he added.

Birmingham Legion are back on the road next week for the second round of the USL Cup. The Three Sparks will travel North to face the Chattanooga Red Wolves as they look to get their first win of the cup campaign.

Legion face the Red Wolves at 6 p.m. May 16th. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and My68 WABM.

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