— This week saw a clash between familiar foes. One’s a blustering New York behemoth whose ubiquitous brand and outsized reputation masks a more suspect behind-the-scenes reality. The other hails from more humble roots, hoping that perseverance overcomes a history of scandal and irregular job performances to finally achieve the elusive lifelong goal of reaching the pinnacle of their profession.

Of course, we’re referring to the New York Cosmos and the Carolina RailHawks, who resumed their four-season series Wednesday evening at stormy WakeMed Soccer Park. After going two years without a victory in Cary, the Cosmos have now won two straight matches at WakeMed Stadium, defeating the RailHawks, 2-0.

New York won all three matches against Carolina this year, outscoring the RailHawks 9-1 over that span.

Tonight’s scoreless opening half bore the earmarks of two dialed-in defenses. The Cosmos earned five clean sheets from their last six matches, while Carolina had allowed only two goals over their preceding five games.

The stalemate was shattered starting in the 70th minute when an errant Connor Tobin pass was intercepted in the backfield. When center back Mickey Daly left his position to cut off a Cosmos attacker, it left Sebastian Guenzatti open on the left side of the area. As Tobin attempted to recover, he upended Guenzatti with a slide tackle and was whistled for a penalty. Adam Moffat converted the ensuing penalty kick to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Immediately after the ensuing kickoff, the last of several James Marcelin turnovers gave the Cosmos a counterattack culminating with a 30-yard left-footed blast by Ruben Bover that sailed past Carolina goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre before creasing nylon to double New York’s advantage and account for the final tally.

While acknowledging his squad's untimely miscues, RailHawks manager Colin Clarke reserved most of his postgame ire for the officiating crew, starting with a hard foul committed by Cosmos defender Carlos Mendes against Nazmi Albadawi in the 54th minute that Clarke believed merited a sending off.

“I thought that was a massive decision the referee failed to give,” Clarke said. “From what I saw, he left both feet, studs showing, endangering an opponent. Automatic red card—not even a second thought about it. I thought the referee was wrong in that decision.

“The penalty [on Tobin] wasn’t a penalty—I can see why he gave it, but it wasn’t a penalty because there wasn’t any contact. There were a couple of offside decisions in the first half given that were very, very close. Sounds like excuses, but they’re big moments in a game that was always going to be very tight. If one of them goes our way, I think it’s a different outcome.”

Tonight is just Carolina’s second NASL home loss this year, while the Cosmos earn only their fourth win in 13 road games. While the teams essentially split possession, the Cosmos were the more assertive side, outshooting the RailHawks 18-4 and basically bossing the midfield all evening.

“Carolina tried everything they could to find spaces,” said Cosmos manager Gio Savarese. “I thought we were very organized, especially in the second half, when we had better mobility. That gave us the edge to find better spaces, and that led to the two goals.”

The Cosmos were without leading scorer Juan Arango, and Savarese opted to leave Jairo Arrieta out of the starting XI, despite Arrieta notching a brace and assist against the RailHawks in Hempstead last month.

“I felt the game needed something different today,” Savarese said. “A player like Yasmani [Duk] is better at pressuring. He’s a player who can cover more ground, and I felt that for this particular match he would do a better job.”

The RailHawks (9-6-11, 33 pts.), who remain cemented in sixth place in the overall NASL standings, travel to Oklahoma City this Sunday to face Rayo OKC. Carolina returns to Cary on Saturday, October 8 to host the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Sylvestre, Beckie, Daly, Tobin, Moses, Albadawi, Marcelin (Shipalane, 76’), Watson, da Luz (Ceballos, 85’), Fondy (Shriver, 85’), Bravo

NYC: Maurer, Richter, Ochieng, Mendes, Ayoze, Moffat, Guenzatti, Bover, Orozco (Arrieta, 73’), Flores (Mulligan, 90 + 2’), Duk (Mkosana 84’)

GOALS

CAR: ---

NYC: Moffat, 71’ (PK); Bover, 72’ (Duk)

CAUTIONS

CAR: Beckie, 64’

NYC: Duk, 42’; Mendes, 55’; Bover, 59’

EJECTIONS

CAR: ---

NYC: ---

ATTENDANCE: 3,093