San Antonio FC (8-6-7) came up just short despite a second-half surge, falling 1-2 at Austin Bold FC (7-6-8) on two days rest from their draw vs. Pittsburgh last Saturday. Justin Dhillon’s fifth goal of the season wasn’t enough for the Alamo City club to get a win in the first of the upcoming four-game road trip.

“It’s a disappointing result,” said SAFC Head Coach Alen Marcina. “We have to do better in our individual duels. We gave up a couple goals that we shouldn’t be giving up and we also created a number of opportunities that we have to do a better job finishing. Credit to Austin, they made it very difficult and found a way to win the game.”

The match was relatively even with both sides looking for the opener it the first half, but it was Austin who would find the back of the net first. After a great ball played in, SAFC defender Mitch Taintor was unlucky to see his last-ditch clearance go into his own net for an own goal in the 40th minute. His team would pick him up however just two minutes later when Nathan played a great ball across the goal for Dhillon to tap in and equalize.

The half ended on a flurry however, when the Bold took the lead once again just before the halftime whistle thanks to a Fabien Garcia finish from an Omar Gordon cross. SAFC created a number of chances throughout the second half but just couldn’t find the tying goal despite Nathan, Dhillon, Ollie Wright and Taintor going close.

SAFC goalkeeper Matthew Cardone recorded his 102nd appearance in all competitions for the club, which is now tied with former defender Greg Cochrane for the most in team history. SAFC will now start a cross-country three-game trip, starting in Salt Lake City away to Real Monarchs this Saturday, September 11.

Scoring Summary:

ATX: 0-1, own goal (Mitch Taintor) 40’

SAFC: 1-1, Justin Dhillon (Nathan assist) 42’

ATX: 1-2, Fabien Garcia (Omar Gordon assist) 45’

Disciplinary Summary:

SAFC: Yellow Card (Axel Sjoberg) 32’

ATX: Yellow Card (Fabien Garcia) 36’

SAFC: Yellow Card (PC) 56’

ATX: Yellow Card (Xavi Baez) 71’

ATX: Yellow Card (Beto Avila) 83’

ATX: Yellow Card (Josue Soto) 88’

Attendance: 650

SAFC Starting XI: GK: Matthew Cardone; D: Connor Maloney, Axel Sjoberg (Joaquin Varela 45’), Mitchell Taintor, Chris Lema (Leo Torres 86’); M: PC (c) (Cam Lindley 69’), Mohammed Abu (Ollie Wright 80’), Marcus Epps, Jose Gallegos; F: Nathan, Justin Dhillon

Substitutions not used: Carlos Mercado, Roman Holt, Shandon Hopeau

Postgame Notes:

• SAFC lost its first match since August 4 and only the third loss in the last 10 matches for the club…marks the first loss to Austin since 7/3 at Toyota Field
• SAFC forward Justin Dhillon scored his fifth goal for the club, which is tied for second on the team…forward Nathan recorded his third assist and this second in his last three matches
• SAFC goalkeeper Matthew Cardone recorded three saves on the night…the goalkeeper recorded his 102nd all-time appearance for the club which is tied with former defender Greg Cochrane for the most all-time
• SAFC defender Mitch Taintor led the team with three tackles and four clearances on the night…the defender had a team-high nine duels and won 66.7 percent of his total duels in the match