It was nowhere near a perfect performance, but the Fire have no complaints about Sunday’s outcome.
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They snapped a season-opening three-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union at Toyota Park as they made sure defender Adailton’s first-half goal went unanswered.
“It’s probably the best we’ve played for 55 minutes, creating chances (and) I thought we dominated most of the play,” Fire coach Frank Yallop said. “(But) we should have put the game away before the 55-, 60th-minute mark.”
The Fire (1-3-0, 3 points) won for the first time since last season’s finale in October as Adailton scored on a first-half header for the team’s first lead of the season.
The score came in the 37th minute off a Harry Shipp free kick and Adailton tipped a header past Union goalkeeper Rais M’bolhi.
Adailton’s goal was the Fire’s second of the season. Shipp had the first last week against San Jose, breaking an Earthquakes shutout in the 29th minute in a 2-1 Fire loss.
“I was very happy with our overall movement and play in the final third, which we worked on all week,” Yallop said. “We looked quite dangerous each time we attacked.”
The Fire gained a man advantage in the 73nd minute with a red-card ejection of Union midfielder Fred for fighting. But they failed to push the attack.
“When the red card came we really sat back and waited to see how the game turned out,” Yallop said. “We should be then on the front foot and really punishing the (other) team.”
The Union remained winless at 0-2-2.
Midfielder Alex suffered a hamstring injury during warmups and was a late scratch in favor of Collin Fernandez.
The Fire were without forwards Shaun Maloney and David Accam, both away on national team duty. Both are expected back for Saturday’s home game against Toronto FC.
With peeks of sunshine after a rainy morning, weather conditions were better than expected. But it was by no means a pleasant afternoon with game-time temperatures around 38 degrees and frigid windchills.