The Charleston Battery fell 2-0 to Detroit City FC at Keyworth Stadium on Saturday. Charleston dominated possession throughout the hotly contested afternoon but were unable to find the back of the net. Detroit’s two late goals made the difference in the end.

Under pleasant 75° mid-afternoon skies in Detroit, it was a relatively cagey start between the sides. DCFC registered the first shot and goalkeeper Adam Grinwis, returning to action after a month of absence, collected the save. Diego Gutierrez recorded the Battery’s only two shots in the opening 20 minutes but both were blocked.

Emotions began to run high in the middle portion of the first half as both teams turned up the intensity to shift the game in their favor. However, only the Battery were issued yellow cards as Nick Markanich (33′), Gutierrez (40′) and Ben Pirmann (42′) picked up cautions.

The teams went into the break tied at 0-0. Charleston held roughly 58% of possession but didn’t record a shot on target (five off target).

Out of halftime, Charleston dominated the ball in the early proceedings and retained 74% possession in the opening 15 minutes. Detroit, however, recorded two shots on target through the 67th minute off counterattacks and Grinwis was up to the task to save both.

Grinwis came up big again in the 83rd minute with a crucial high claim against Detroit when Abdoulaye Diop tried to catch Grinwis off his line.

Markanich nearly scored the opening goal in the 84th minute with a strike inside the box that hit off the crossbar, Charleston’s best chance on goal to that point.

DCFC managed to take the lead in the 86th minute after the side was awarded a penalty for a handball in the box. Maxi Rodriguez converted the spot attempt.

The hosts would add a second goal in the 94th minute to close out the 2-0 win.

Saturday’s result moves the Battery’s record to 8W-2L-5D (29pts), placing them second in the Eastern Conference standings, as of writing.

Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Josh Drack discussed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.

Coach Pirmann on the difficulties faced this afternoon…

When you step back and look at the big picture, we are in a bit of a rut in terms of efficiency around goal and getting results to go our way. The game was exactly as we expected, similar to Pittsburgh. We wanted to be more aggressive and assertive, try to get the ball reversed in the final third and make attacks and we did a good job.

A couple of things didn’t go our way. Ninety seconds before [Detroit] are taking a penalty, we were hitting the crossbar and having a really great chance. Their ground is a tough place to play, tough surface, tough crowd. They had some things go their way with some bounces and calls and we didn’t. When you’re in a rut, that’s the way it works, so a little bit unfortunate. We were a little shorthanded, but at the end of the day, Detroit won fair and square. We played alright, we played with effort and tenacity, but we weren’t clever enough on the day to get all three points or even a result.