Lexington SC extinguished Central Valley Fuego’s comeback efforts in a 3-2 win over the Fresno side on Saturday night. The Boys in Green (or Black, in this case) got the lead early and kept it all night, even after a solid 2nd half-effort by Fuego. The victory moves Lexington to 6-6-10 with 24 points through 22 matches and drops Fuego to 5-2-14 with 17 points through 21 matches. The result also marks the first time Lexington SC has won 2 games in a row after last week’s thriller out in Windsor, Colorado.

Coach Sam Stockley put out the same starting 11 that we saw contribute to the comeback efforts out in Windsor, and the consistency in the lineup paid off in full, especially within the first 10 minutes, as Lexington was up 2-0 on Fuego by the 8th minute thanks to the efforts of Tate “Chef Robo” Robertson, who I did say would be the player to watch for in the match (little self pat on the back). 

Robertson opened the scoring in the 4th minute off a free kick that should earn him consideration for Goal of the Week by the league by curling the ball over the wall and down into the bottom left corner. The goal marked Robertson’s 3rd of the year, all from free kicks just outside the box. He followed this up in the 8th minute by nutmegging a Fuego defender on a perfect little tap pass to Nico Brown for his 7th goal of the year. Robertson’s 7th assist moved him into a tie for 2nd place with Miguel Ibarra of the Independence for the league lead in assists and just 1 behind Arthur Rodgers of the Hailstorm.

Fuego did step up offensively in the 2nd half, especially after going down 3-1, launching 16 shots, with 6 on target in just the 2nd half. Lexington keeper Amal Knight, the reigning Save the Week award winner, made another fantastic save in the 64th minute off a shot by wonderkid Maximus Ekk to keep Fuego’s hope of a comeback low. Ekk would get another shot at a goal in the 76th minute, but he skied his chance over the bar. Fuego and Lexington would go back-and-forth for the remaining 20 minutes (7 minutes of stoppage time was added), with Lexington having a fantastic chance to go up by 3 goals in the 86th minute with shots by SoSo, Balogun, and Smart all hurling towards the net in a scramble but Fuego’s backline did well in bailing out their keeper.

Fuego would get the final goal of the match from their leading scoring Alexis Cerritos, who many thought would not play in this game due to his call-up to the El Salvador national team matches starting on Monday the 14th, fired in a shot from 27 yards out that just bounced over Knight’s diving effort in the 88th minute. Both sides would have some back-and-forth efforts but no other notable highlights before the referee’s final whistle, solidifying 3 points for the Boys in Green, moving them just 8 out of the final playoff spot with 10 matches left. After the final whistle, there was a post-match scuffle between the two sides. However, the referee was able to gain control of it, and the customary post-match handshakes and hugs followed.

In his post-match interview, Coach Stockly spoke on the chaos of the match – “For us it was a bit of a nail biter, I think I’ve lost a little bit more hair lately, but we’ll take another three points and back-to-back wins, which is huge for us, I think we’re second in the league in creating the biggest chances and now we’re starting to convert them. Scoring goals for us is becoming a little bit easier, but I wouldn’t say it’s easy. We’ve got to continue to work and grow out the moments just after we score and just after halftime.” 

Stockley continued with some words on the heart of this team that the fans love so much – “I think you can tell by my palms, they’re a bit sweaty, but when we went to Northern Colorado, we were 3-1 down and came back 4-3. Even if you’re 3-1 at this level, it’s never over, that’s the beauty of this game. That’s why we love this game because it can go to the 95-96th minute. Obviously when they scored that second goal with five or six minutes to go there was a natural tension and a natural urge to freeze a bit but I’m so proud of this group. It’s never over until it’s over.”

For his efforts, Robertson was voted by the fans as the Man of the Match and talked about the team’s efforts post-match with Tyler Crane of Crane Kicks Lex, “We started off on the right foot, 2-0 within 10 minutes…when you start like that, you’re going to put yourself in a good spot…Coaches believe in me, teammates believe in me… I do everything for them…I want to see them (teammates) do well…I want to see them score goals and I’m trying to help them and help the team.”