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The single point from Saturday’s tie won’t help much, although Fury FC (7-9-11) still does have enough points available to get the job done before its USL schedule closes out Oct. 14 at Pittsburgh.

The next game, though, is next Sunday at home against first-place Louisville City FC.

“We fought and did everything we could,” de Guzman said. “It’s just unfortunate that they got their goal based on a mistake from us that was clearly due to the fatigue that was kicking in and that our concentration wasn’t as sharp.”

The 12th-place Fury FC was in tough against the Eastern Conference’s most prolific offence on Saturday, with the Independence holding a 50-34 advantage in goals scored heading into the contest. Charlotte’s lineup featured Enzo Martinez, who was tied for first in the USL with 16 goals, and Jorge Herrera, who was fifth with 12.

Fury FC handled those big guns well enough, but even so the Independence held a wide margin in play, particularly in the 30 minutes leading up to Hilton’s goal.

To its credit, though, Fury FC got off to just the kind of start de Guzman had been seeking. It went right to the attack, and that paid off with sustained pressure and, just 10 minutes, a goal on a header by Dixon.

Moments later, Fury FC again threatened, but one shot clattered off the post and another by Tucker Hume went wide of the goal.

Fury FC keeper Callum Irving made that lead standup into half-time, including one acrobatic save on a ball just below the crossbar. It was Irving’s 31st consecutive start.

However, Fury FC also received bad news in the final moments of the opening 45 as leading scorer Steevan Dos Santos went down in pain after taking a boot to the side of one knee from Charlotte’s Donnie Smith, who was yellow-carded by the referee.

Dos Santos was replaced by Carl Haworth for the second half.

There was no further word on the extent of the injury. It’s likely Dos Santos will be re-evaluated this coming week back in Ottawa.

Dos Santos had scored in five consecutive games, and his season total of eight amounted to almost one-quarter of Fury FC’s total offensive output.