The home crowd saw Birmingham Legion FC lose a tough 1-0 match to Nashville SC in the USL Championship Game of the Week at BBVA Compass Field Wednesday night.

The only goal came on a penalty shot taken by Nashville’s Daniel Rios in the 61st minute after Birmingham forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen took down Alan Winn inside the box.

“I think effort-wise we competed a lot better. We didn’t give them a whole lot,” Legin FC coach Tom Soehn said. “Of course, we gave up the penalty and I feel bad for Femi, who had a really good day.”

The MLS-signed Rios made it count for his eighth goal of the season and second from the penalty spot.

While Legion FC failed to score in the match, the team certainly had its opportunities.

Both Birmingham and Nashville had two shots on-target and Birmingham led its opponent 8 to 6 on total shots taken. Nashville, however, dominated on the time of possession for the match (57% to 43%) and in passing accuracy (75% to 68%).

Legion FC had several notable chances in the first half.

MLS loaner JJ Williams had two early looks at the goal; in the 21st minute, Williams had a shot go just wide on a shot from the far post.

Then in the 28th minute, Williams received a pass from Prosper Kasim and drove into the box before he was pulled down by a Nashville player. The players and the crowd both argued for a penalty on the play, but no call was made.

Williams and forward Chandler Hoffman almost connected in the 38th minute when Hoffman received a pass and took a shot on goal that was deflected by Nashville goalkeeper Matt Pickens.

The second half saw little productive action at the goal other than a late attempt by Daigo Kobayashi in the 79th minute in the box that was blocked by Pickens.

Birmingham goalkeeper Trevor Spangenberg played well again in place of injured starter Matt Van Oekel, keeping Nashville out of the goal aside from the one successful penalty shot.

Early in the first half, he kicked away an opportunity for Nashville SC to score when Kharlton Belmar received a pass from Rios and faced Spangenberg head-on.

The game improved Nashville’s record to 7-3-3 and a second-place standing in the USL’s Eastern Conference. Legion FC sits at 3-6-3 in its inaugural franchise season.

Legion FC gets a much-needed schedule break and plays next on Wednesday, May 29, in a third-round U.S. Open Cup match against Louisville City FC on the road.

“I can’t knock the guys for the effort, and especially through this stretch of eight games in a short time,” Soehn said.