A late goal wasn’t enough for Birmingham Legion as the Three Sparks fell to the Las Vegas Lights yesterday.

Sebastián Saucedo grabbed a 89th-minute consolation after 10 minutes of intense pressure by the Three Sparks. Unfortunately for them, they could not find a second to bridge the two-goal deficit and fell to a 2-1 loss in front of their home crowd.

“I love the way we tried to end the game,” Jay Heaps said. “There was a lot of passion and fight. I just wish that was the way we started the game. … It was very frustrating because I just think we played timid in the first half.”

As has been a trademark of late, Birmingham came out of the gates with plenty of energy. Though Las Vegas had an early opportunity in the third minute, the rest of the opening quarter was all Legion.

Samuel Shashoua had a shot saved in the 11th minute after good play by Ronaldo Damus and Sebastian Tregarthen to set him up. Moments later, a quick counter saw a Gevork Diarbian shot blocked on the edge of the box.

Unfortunately for Legion, Las Vegas built off that block to go up the other end and score. Though Oalex Anderson was the only Las Vegas player in the box, he was inexplicably left unmarked to place a straightforward header past a helpless Jassem Koleilat.

“It was going the right way,” Heaps said. “And then whenever there’s something that doesn’t go our way, whether it’s a chance that we don’t get, they come down and score from that play. We go from a shot blocked where we’re two-on-one with the keeper, and they come down and score with one guy in the box and we have three defenders.”

After conceding in the 15th minute, Birmingham though they had an immediate response in the 17th.

A dangerous cross from Tregarthen made its way to Diarbian on the opposite side, and the winger’s shot went in off a deflection. However, the assistant referee’s flag was up as Diarbian had drifted into an offside position when Ronaldo Damus made first contact with the ball in the box.

Legion then had a penalty shout in the 26th minute. Ramiz Hamouda, up for a free-kick, got to a loose ball first and appeared to get kicked by a Las Vegas player. The teenager fell to the ground, but the referee waved play on.

History repeated itself for the Three Sparks in the 33rd minute, when Damus showed great strength to get on the end of a Diarbian cross. The Haitian held off his marker and cleverly looped a header over the Las Vegas goalkeeper, but for the second time of the night the play was called back for offside, this one on the striker.

With a penalty shout and two goals chalked off, Birmingham fans would have felt they deserved to get something from the first half. Instead, they saw a penalty awarded the other way right on the stroke of halftime.

Anderson had run into the box to get on the end of a cross when Dawson McCartney pushed him to the ground. Though the ball was nowhere near the striker, the shove was blatant and resulted in a spot kick.

Thankfully for Legion, Koleilat guessed right and saved low to his right.

“Ronaldo came up to me, I think he played with [the penalty taker] or something, and he told me he’s probably going to go that way,” Koleilat revealed. “As long as my teammates have that knowledge, then I will trust them with it and go with it.”

That penalty save, the first in Legion history to not immediately be followed up by a goal on the rebound, should have given the team some momentum going into the break. But when they re-emerged for the second period, it was quickly more of the same.

In the 58th minute, Diarbian hit a shot just wide of the far post after cutting in off the left. As with his blocked attempt in the first period, Las Vegas went straight up the other end to score.

This time the goal came via corner kick, as Jonathan Rodriguez rose highest to head the ball on goal. Koleilat got a touch to it but could not prevent the ball sneaking into the net after hitting the inside of the post.

Heaps responded to the second setback with a double change, bringing on Serge Ngoma and Sam McIllhatton for Sebastian Tregarthen and Samuel Shashoua. The two newcomers provided an injection of energy and pace, but could not help the team find a breakthrough.

Not until the 80th minute did the Three Sparks truly ramp up the pressure.

Ngoma got his first chance of the game in the 81st, as a Diarbian cross evaded Damus and his marker to find the winger unmarked at the back post. His left-footed shot was poor though, bobbling its way just wide of the frame.

The loanee nearly made amends with a clever cutback to his fellow substitute two minutes later. McIllhatton got a shot off from the edge of the box, and for a moment it looked like a deflection might allow it to creep into the side netting. But Las Vegas’ goalkeeper recovered in the nick of time, pouncing on the loose ball inches ahead of an onrushing Saucedo.

As the team grew more desperate, players started resorting to a route one approach, and Damus nearly benefited in the 87th minute.

A long ball over the top found the Haitian streaking behind the defense, but his shot across goal went inches wide of the post.

Despite the late pressure, it looked like it wasn’t going to be the Black and Gold’s night until Saucedo’s late goal. Tyler Pasher sent an inviting ball into the box, and the forward got to it first and lifted it over the keeper’s outstretched leg with a deft first touch to score his second goal in as many games.

Suddenly, it looked like Legion might still snatch something from the game.

Birmingham continued to pile on pressure and even sent Keegan Hughes up top as an auxiliary striker. The 6’4” defender’s frame came in handy as the Three Sparks continued their long ball approach, aiming for Hughes to play off of knock-downs.

“Before the goal, I found myself up front and stayed up there for a bit,” Hughes said. “After we scored the goal I gave Jay a look and he told me to continue to go forward for the remaining part of the game.”

In the 92nd minute, Legion had their second penalty shout of the game.

Leo Duru did well to cross the ball into a dangerous area, forcing the goalkeeper to punch clear. The ball fell near Damus, but the striker fell over chasing it after Kyle Scott appeared to drag him to the floor with an arm around the waist.

But for the second time of the night, the referee waved play on amidst the Legion protestations.

With two uncalled penalties contrasted to Las Vegas’ awarded one, and two goals chalked back for tight offsides, Heaps said he wished referees showed more consistency in their decision-making.

“You want to be the referee and call a penalty on Dawson when the ball was 15 feet over the guy’s head?” Heaps said. “Then why not call it when Raz gets kicked in the knee? If you want to call soft penalties, call them. If you want to never call a penalty, don’t. But don’t call one and not do the other.

“The consistency in today’s game was a million miles apart within big moments,” he continued. “Within the regular game, I thought they did a good job. But you want to call offside on a goal? You better make sure the rest of your calls are that tight. Because I still can’t see it on film. I still think Ronaldo’s onside.”

Pasher had one final chance for the team deep in stoppage time as he sent a fiercely struck half-volley on goal, but it was straight at the goalkeeper. Though he was unable to catch it given the power on the shot, the shotstopper used the shot’s momentum to punch it far away from the danger zone.

It was only Legion’s second shot on target of the game, the other being the goal.

That was the last real chance for a Legion team that will have felt they should have gotten at least a point from the game. Given the two offside goals and multiple shots going just wide of the post, it was truly a matter of inches for the Three Sparks to miss out on not just a draw, but a win.

The players will hopefully take something away from the close game, not in the least because of what happened after. As media waited in the press room to interview Heaps and some players, none of them emerged from the locker room for nearly an hour.

When Heaps finally did show up, his voice was notably hoarse, while Hughes thought long and hard before answering a question on what had been said.

“We had a good discussion as a group” Hughes said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

The Three Sparks will quickly get to see if that discussion paid any dividends as they face another two-game week. They will first fly out to California to face a high-flying Oakland Roots team on Wednesday, before returning for another home matchup next Saturday against Loudoun United.

Birmingham Legion face Oakland Roots at 2 p.m. June 17, live on ESPN+ and My68 WABM. They host Loudoun United at 7 p.m. June 20 at Protective Stadium.

Follow Timothy Belin on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook or Bluesky to stay up to date on all things Legion this season.