Across two games played at their Dunnavant Valley training facility, Birmingham Legion showed there is still fight left in them.
The Three Sparks are well off the postseason pace, but went head-to-head with two league heavyweights Saturday and Wednesday. In both games, Legion scored the opening goal before quickly going behind.
But both times, they fought back to snatch a draw.
The second game fightback, against New Mexico United, was particularly impressive, as the Black and Gold found themselves down 4-1 in the 66th minute. A Ronaldo Damus goal in the 77th made it 4-2 and sparked a wild ending, which saw Damus get a second and tie things up at 4-4 with the final kick of the game.
“It’s one of those you’re proud of the effort and energy, but we wish we would have done it a little sooner,” Jay Heaps said.
Despite the incredible comeback feeling like a win in the moment, Heaps was right not to get carried away. As had been the case four days earlier against the Charleston Battery, it was only one point earned despite a positive performance. With just seven games left and still 12 points to make up on their playoff rivals, the team quickly needs to turn those draws into wins.
“We have to go on a run that’s probably unprecedented, but we’re gonna keep going on that run,” Heaps said. “There’s no quit in the guys, which I love. They’ll fight till the last whistle, and that’s what I ask them to do every time.”
One thing the team did learn from their two games in Shelby County is that there is still a dedicated fanbase for the club. While Protective Stadium, with its 47,100 capacity, has killed any meaningful home atmosphere, the much more intimate Dunnavant Valley setup brought it back with a vengeance.
Though attendance numbers were fairly similar to what the team gets downtown, with official numbers at 1,468 and 3,230, respectively, the feel was completely different. The closeness to the pitch and the smaller space meant the fans could truly be heard, and the players noticed the difference.
“Honestly, I love it,” Jassem Koleilat said. “It’s really nice. I think if we had a whole setup, making even more like a stadium out here, I think it would be absolutely phenomenal. Seeing the sidelines, how many people are there… I know there’s the same amount of people who come out to Protective, but that stadium is just absolutely huge.”
“It makes a difference,” Romario Williams, who continued his fine form with his sixth and seventh goals in the last six games, added. “You feel the energy of the crowd. Everyone’s closer to the action. It’s a lot more compact.”
The New Mexico players felt it too, with several of them riled up at the crowd by game’s end on Wednesday. Some unsavory scenes occurred as those players exited the pitch after the final whistle, going to show that the fans had gotten into their heads and likely contributed to their collapse.
Whereas players on both sides will barely hear the fans in Protective, there was no doubt the support carried the team to its draw against New Mexico.
“At 4-1, it was as quiet as I’ve heard it anywhere, but it was a quiet where you could feel the tension in the air,” Heaps said. “And then when we scored the second goal you could feel an instant buzz, and once we scored the third goal you knew the fourth was coming. It was just a matter of did we have enough time to get the fourth goal.”
Like Koleilat, Heaps suggested a few more improvements would be needed to make the training facility into a proper venue, but he saw potential. With only two more home games this season, he admitted they would consider bringing the season finale to Shelby County as well.
Before they can make any of those plans though, they will need to go back on the road this weekend. And things aren’t going to get any easier for the Three Sparks either.
After playing the second-placed teams in both the Western and the Eastern conferences back-to-back, Birmingham travel next to the East’s table toppers. The Tampa Bay Rowdies sit well clear at the top of the league, having already clinched their postseason berth and well on track for the Player’s Shield.
“Tampa and Charleston were always on the schedule,” Heaps said. “It was always going to be tough. We’ve got work to do, but there’s a lot of fight left.”
Birmingham’s biggest struggle this season has been their inability to hold onto leads, with an incredible 25 points dropped from winning positions already. For context, that number alone would be ninth in the table, seven points off the playoffs and five ahead of the Legion.
However, there are positives in the fact the team is scoring early, and scoring plenty. Despite a run of three losses followed by three draws, the Legion have scored at least two goals in all six games. They are currently on a 16-game scoring streak, one of the longest in club history, and have notably been carried by the in-form Williams.
“Guys are just finding me,” Williams said. “I’m just getting myself in good spots, just doing what I’ve done my entire career. […] I’ve been in a good run of form, and normally when you’re in this kind of form you don’t really think. The ball just finds you and you just do your job.”
The team will look to Williams once more in Tampa, though Damus will hope to also have a say coming off his midweek brace. But the whole team will need to carry their momentum from that final 20 minutes against New Mexico if they are to return from Florida with a point, let alone three.
Birmingham Legion face the Tampa Bay Rowdies at 6:30 p.m. tonight. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and My68 WABM.
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