KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Orlando City were just over a quarter-hour away from snapping a five-match winless streak, but the Lions couldn't withstand Sporting Kansas City's relentless offensive pressure down the stretch.

And this time, after two straight draws, the Lions didn't even take away a point – conceding twice in the final 16 minutes and falling 2-1 on Sunday.

“It’s frustrating,” said assistant coach Mark Watson, who led the Lions on Sunday with manager Adrian Heath serving a one-match suspension for pitch encroachment. “You get the goal and you think, maybe we could steal this, and you hope to hold on and defend those last 20 minutes. But in the end, they just had too many opportunities in the box. It was just a matter of time.”

The Lions, who were outshot 34-7, went up 1-0 in the 69th minute on an own goal charged to Sporting left back Jimmy Medranda after a scramble in the goalmouth. That lead lasted all of five minutes, before Dom Dwyer – who was a fan favorite in Orlando when he helped the Lions win a USL title while on loan from Sporting in 2013 – headed in the equalizer.

Second-half sub Jacob Peterson put in another header in the 79th minute for Sporting, sending the Lions home with nothing.

“It was a tough result for us again because the result could have been better, and we were winning,” midfielder and captain Kaka told reporters afterward. “After that, we conceded two goals. It was a tough game. They have a very good team and good supporters. The only thing I have to complain is that we had the result in our hand.”

They didn't defend well enough to keep that result, but Kaka did not put the blame solely on Orlando City's back line.

“I think when you defend, the whole team needs to defend better,” he said. “The defensive system of the team needs to be better, and most of that comes to pressure. We can pressure a little bit more. Their midfield had too much time to think where to play, how to play. This doesn’t happen with us. So there is something we need to change.”

The Lions have six days to right the ship before hosting Eastern Conference-leading Montreal on Saturday (7:30 pm ET; TSN2 in Canada and MLS LIVE in USA), the start of a run of three matches in nine days.

“They’re coming thick and quick,” defender Luke Boden said. “We have Montreal to look forward to, so we’ve got no time to sit and sulk. And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe having the game coming up against Montreal is a good thing. We haven’t got time to dwell on today. All the lads are disappointed, obviously. We don’t go out there intending to lose. We go out to win.”