Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2011

RailHawks fall late to Montreal Impact

Single goal brings controversy

The Carolina RailHawks suffered their second consecutive loss Sunday afternoon, falling 1-0 to the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium.

And as usual when the RailHawks (17-6-3) and Impact (7-8-11) face each other, Sunday's match was not without contention and controversy.

The match pitting the North American Soccer League regular-season RailHawks against a hungry Impact team that developed a dogfight mentality to qualify for the postseason, which resulted in 39 combined fouls and six yellow cards.

When the match's only goal was scored, it did come with some controversy.

In the 40th minute, Montreal's Luke Kreamalmeyer, who was just off the touchline in the right corner, played a long ball toward the RailHawks goal.

RailHawks goalkeeper Brad Knighton, who was in net all afternoon, caught the ball at the goal mouth, appearing to have kept it from crossing the line. Play continued for more seconds until the referee and linesman conferred.

They ruled the ball had crossed the plane, and a goal was awarded.

"We have to perform better and find a way to overcome bad decisions," RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said. "Away from home, in a big game like that, a decision like that affected us, and in the end it cost us. But we've got lots of room for improvement. We'll start the playoff push now, and we're really looking forward to that."

While the RailHawks were shutout for a second consecutive match and took just four shots, they held firm defensively and did enough to stay close to Montreal throughout.

Knighton matched the club record for saves in a match with 11 for the second time this season, and it was his fifth match this year with seven saves or more.

With the regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the playoffs already attained, the RailHawks will use their final two matches to prepare for the postseason. They play their final road match of the season Saturday in Puerto Rico, and will return to WakeMed Soccer Park to close out the season Sept. 24 against Minnesota.