“The first half was frustrating because it felt like Kyle (Greig) and I were chasing it a little bit,” Blackwood said. “Coming out in the second half, I wanted to try and make some sort of impact. Obviously got the goal, but then, I don’t know, I guess we just switched it off. It just hurts.

“Honestly, I’d much rather not score but get the win. We want to make playoffs, the fans deserve playoffs, it just hurts right now.

“We just have to get back the mentality we had when we went on that five-game streak. If we score first, we have to be impossible to break down. We have to have everyone locked down for 95 minutes. We have to be locked down, where nobody’s taking chances. My memory after a game is terrible — I don’t remember much about how they scored — but I just know that we have to stay switched on.”

STLFC produced the night’s first chance when Hilton had a shot from outside the penalty area sail wide. In the 13th minute, after an STLFC corner kick went untouched through the Atlanta United 2 penalty area, Matt Bahner’s pass into the box was headed over the goal by Phanuel Kavita.

In the 16th minute, after receiving a pass from Russell Cicerone, STLFC’s Blackwood hit a volley attempt wide.