Birmingham suffered another late goal Thursday night to continue their terrible run of form.

With a 2-1 loss to Detroit City, the Three Sparks have now gone a full two months without winning a USL Championship game. In that time frame, they have drawn three and lost four league contests.

“It’s tough,” Jay Heaps said. “It really is. I don’t have all the answers for that. For me, as a staff, you’ve got to prepare the guys for the game and the moments you think they’re going to deal with.

“The rest of it becomes, really, how do you rise to the occasion?” he continued. “And right now we’re almost there, and then we drop back. Whenever we’re not locked in, at that moment we concede.”

For a team out of form, the last thing you want to do is hand the opposition any further belief than they already have. Birmingham Legion did exactly that with less than two minutes on the clock.

After just 38 seconds, Bryce Washington gave up an easy corner. Former Legion man Kobe Hernández-Foster stepped up and swinged in a vicous ball for Rio Hope-Gund to head at goal. Koleilat got a hand to it to send it onto the post, and then a second attempt to try and prevent the rebound crossing the line, but the linesman rightfully raised it flag to alert that the ball had gone past the goal line.

With less than 90 seconds played, Legion trailed 1-0.

“Shocking way to start,” Heaps said. “We didn’t finish the play, and they score a goal.”

Making it worse, the goal was already Legion’s sixth conceded from a corner this season. With 18 total scored against them in the league, that’s one third of goals against coming from such set-pieces.

“I think we’re set up to defend it, I think we’re there to make the play, and we don’t make the play,” Heaps said. “It’s not something we don’t discuss. It’s not something we don’t address and it’s not something that doesn’t keep me up at night because it surely does.”

Birmingham were clearly reeling from the early deficit and took a while to get into the game as a result. They had one big chance in the eighth minute as Gevork Diarbian found Sebastian Tregarthen on the edge of the box, but the Uruguayan sent his attempt well over the bar.

Legion were otherwise rather toothless, and perhaps fortunate to get back into the game via the penalty spot. Peter-Lee Vassell was dragged to the ground while in the box in the 23rd minute, and Tyler Pasher stepped up to calmly slot home the equalizer.

The game started to get a bit feisty following the penalty call, with one notable flashpoints right on the stroke of half-time.

For Legion players and staff, tensions first rose on the half-hour mark. The team got incensed at the referee after Samuel Shashoua did well to launch a counter-attack while being fouled, only for the official to forgo the advantage in order to book the Detroit player.

It then became chippy between the players themselves, with Seth Antwi picking up a yellow card for a foul on Hernández-Foster in the 37th minute. It was then Detroit’s turn to disagree with the official in the first minute of stoppage time, as Diarbian went down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot for a second time.

Legion opted to switch takers, with Ronaldo Damus stepping up. The Haitian attempted to go left of the keeper but his shot was at a good height for Carlos Herrera, who saved well.

Finally, Hernández-Foster got booked for a very late challenge on Diarbian, leaving the winger in pain on the floor. The ex-Legion man could then be seen taunting Antwi, who had come over to confront him about the foul.

Players had to be separated by the referee, with Birmingham captain Phanuel Kavita also coming over to try and calm things down.

Damus looked to put his penalty miss behind him early in the second half, but failed to get the crucial shot off. After a good move by several Legion players, the forward received the ball in the box but could not get it out of his feet.

Two minutes later, tensions rose again as Tregarthen bundled a Detroit player into his own bench. Unlike Hernández-Foster, the Uruguayan was clearly apologetic and looked to check on Tommy Silva’s welfare, but he nonetheless became the fourth player to go in the into the book as several players got into arguments over the foul once again.

The next few minutes were taken over by these individual battles all over the pitch. Play was stop-start due to frequent fouls, and by full time the two sides had combined for 25 offences.

In that same period, Detroit looked the likelier team to score. Koleilat made a good save off another corner headed at goal on the hour mark and Kavita had a crucial sliding block to deny a shot in the 76th. Hernández-Foster then sent a curled effort just over the bar before Detroit finally got their second go-ahead goal of the night two minutes into stoppage time.

Legion were on the offensive just moments earlier, but quick transition play by the visitors brought them to Koleilat’s goal. The Czech shotstopper, usually one of the team’s better players, spilled the original shot, allowing Ben Morris to run onto it and make it 2-1.

Per Kaylor Hodges’ analysis in his recent video on Legion’s defensive issues this season, Birmingham have really only conceded two kinds of goals this season. A ridiculous 13 of the 17 non-penalty goals they’ve faced have come from wide areas, with the remaining four all emerging from transitional moments.

It was perhaps fitting that Detroit scored one of both.

To their credit, the Three Sparks did not let their heads drop despite the late goal. First, Pasher got to the byline and sent a cutback to the edge of the box, but nobody had made the run. Then, Romario Williams got ahead of his man to deflect a wide free-kick on target, only for it to bounce off the post.

Finally, in the final minutes of stoppage time, the biggest flashpoint of the game occurred.

Sebastián Saucedo, brought on 20 minutes earlier as he looked to continue his good run of form, dribbled into the box. But just as he appeared likely to get a shot off, he was brought down with a scissor tackle. It looked the most blatant foul of all three penalty calls, but this time, the referee did not give it.

Saucedo remained on the floor for a while as fans and players tried to make sense of the no-call. Legion did not get another chance to tie things up, and the game ended with already their fifth league loss from 14 games.

Birmingham could hardly complain at the loss, having done little to earn anything else, but the manner of it still led to more frustration. In his postgame press conference, Heaps went on a nearly two-minute rant about the refereeing.

“That was the worst refereed game I’ve seen in my entire career,” Heaps said. “And I mean that. I had to think through this, because I wanted to be very clear. I can’t believe how many missed [calls] he had. There was no feel for the game at all.

“Two times he stopped the play when we had the ball and called a foul,” he continued. “He stopped for a water break when we had possession of the ball, trying to play, and they were pressing us. It was a moment where you just don’t stop. If you watch the World Cup, they’re not doing that.

“Then, their guy almost breaks our guy’s leg and it’s a yellow card. And our guy barely shoves their guy down and it’s a yellow card. It really was the worst game I’ve seen refereed as a professional. As a GM, as a coach, as a player.

“I am saddened by that. The game itself, we could have done better. Everybody’s got to look in the mirror, but there’s not enough of them (the officials) looking in the mirror. Because there was zero…. You could tell, everyone around them felt like there was something going on. It was almost like a different world.

“That is to me what hurts the most. We are watching the World Cup, and the refereeing, outside of [the Balogun red card] has been great, because they’re consistent. They’re getting it, they understand the game, they know the game.

“And then we get to the professional, which this is a serious level for us, this is a big deal, and if that’s not there we’re going to struggle.”

Heaps and his players will have to quickly put their frustrations behind them, with another massive game coming at them fast. The Three Sparks travel to Miami on Sunday, taking on the team currently occupying the final playoff spot in the West, four points ahead of the Black and Gold.

Birmingham Legion face Miami FC at 6 p.m. Sunday at Pitbull Arena. The game will be live on ESPN+ and MY68 WABM.

“We’ll reconcile tonight in some way and move forward and be ready for Sunday,” Heaps said. “But we’re going to have to look hard in the mirror and dig deep.”

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