It was a tale of two halves at the Plex on Saturday night as the Charlotte Independence fell to last-place Toronto FC II by the score of 3–2. A questionable second half red card may have had something to do with it…

Fear the Beard. (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

The Jacks were very sharp early, forcing saves and having a couple of chances nullified by the offside flag. They went up 1–0 on an Enzo Martinez goal in the 20th minute with a nice little flick assist from Jaime Siaj. Enzo now has 14 goals on the year, good for second in the East and third in the league.

Rookie Jaime Siaj scored his third goal of the season (and second against Toronto) with an assist from the captain Bilal Duckett and a slight deflection from a TFCII defender.

Siaj got the start in place of Jorge Herrera and filled in admirably, creating chances the entire time he was on the field, including forcing an incredible save on this play.

I jumped ahead a few minutes for that highlight though, so let’s go back to the moment that changed the outcome of the game.

Alex Martinez committed a foul and the TFCII player, not taking kindly to that, jumped up and shoved Alex. Alex was subsequently shown a red card for spitting at the TFCII player, and the video shows him clearly spit, but it was on the ground and after the player had turned his back and walked toward the Toronto bench.

Was it the correct decision to send him off? It all depends on your interpretation of “spitting at.” If spitting at means spitting in the general direction of an opponent with no intention of hitting him with said spit, then yes the red card was justified.

If you have to land the spit on the opponent, or get close to landing it, then this was not the correct decision. I imagine this is a judgment call for the referee, and as we’ve seen all year long, the Independence do not get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to sending-offs.

It is what it is at this point.

Brotherly love. (Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

The Jacks were then faced with a near impossible task; hold a lead while playing down a man for 40+minutes. They did well until the 70th minute, and that’s when the dam broke. TFCII scored three goals in seven minutes from the feet of Ashtone Morgan, Ben Spencer and Jordan Hamilton. This put the Jacks down 3–2 and under massive pressure to find en equalizer with little proven attacking prowess on the field following the departure of Siaj and Estrada right before the third goal was conceded.

Hamilton scored a very similar goal to his equalizer at the death back in Toronto

They were obviously unable to overcome this and fell for the first time at the ‘Plex and for the first time in club history to TFCII.

This was a bad result on a rough night. Saturday marked the first time the Independence lost while scoring multiple goals. Charlotte had chances to get a third goal in the first half and early in the second that they couldn’t finish, and they again came dangerously close to a late equalizer after Toronto went up a goal.

The stats favored the Independence even after playing half the game a man down but the final pass and finishing shot were just missing. The Jacks need to learn from their mistakes and correct them in training and in the games to come.

Man of the Match

Jaime Siaj

Jaime Siaj had another standout performance after getting the start for the Jacks. He had a goal and an assist and four shots on target. Siaj has really come along nicely and as you can tell, I’m a big fan of his game. Drown your sorrows from the loss in some sweet tea Jaime!

Siaj celebrates his goal (Photo: Alex Warren)

Takeaways

Finishing has to be better

The Independence have dropped points in the last two games in part due to poor finishing. If they could have finished an extra chance in each of their last two games, they would have taken four points from those matches instead of just the one.

Keeping Cool

Composure is something coach Jefferies needs to preach as the season winds down. Teams now have a blueprint to beat the Independence, and part of that will be to agitate the Martinez brothers in an attempt to get them sent off. They’ll need to be on their toes and do their best to curtail their emotions and channel them into their play.

Bender Debut

A bright spot on the field besides Siaj and Enzo’s play was rookie Jacob Bender making his Independence and professional debut. Bender came on for Henry Kalungi late on in an attempt to salvage a point for the home team. He showed promise with a shot hitting just on the outside of the net and a goal disallowed for offside. It’s nice to see a young guy get rewarded for his hard work on the training ground.

(Photo Credit: Alex Warren)

Next up

The Independence face another cellar dweller next Saturday in the Richmond Kickers. If they can keep 11 men on the field for 90 minutes, I like their chances of getting three points, but anything can happen in the USL.

Make sure to check back tomorrow for this week’s Talkin’ Jacks podcast to hear Ben and I vent our frustrations about this game and look ahead to the Kickers game! And as always, come on you Jacks!