Sporting Kansas City played out a 1:1 draw against St Louis City at Sporting Park on Wednesday evening in a Major League Soccer regular season fixture. The match ended level after both sides had opened the scoring, with E. Lowen putting the visitors ahead just before half-time and C. Harris responding for the hosts after the break.
There was a yellow card for Z. Bassong in the 15th minute, and then to be fair the game settled into a rhythm before C. Durkin also went into the referee's book in the 21st. J. Miller picked up a caution on the stroke of half-time, and by then E. Lowen had already given St Louis City the lead with a goal in the 45th-plus-two minute that left the home side needing to respond.
C. Harris struck in the 55th minute to level matters, and Sporting Kansas City felt they had won the game inside twenty minutes of the restart. The hosts pressed forward with energy, but St Louis City held firm and then saw their substitute E. Lowen come off in the 62nd minute alongside S. Becher going on.
The statistics tell a story of two teams going at it with something to prove. Sporting Kansas City had 49 per cent possession and took eight shots, three on target, while St Louis City held 51 per cent and registered two shots on target from five attempts. Expected goals came in at 1.3 for the hosts against 0.52 for the visitors, which suggests Sporting Kansas City created better chances but St Louis City were more clinical when it counted.
There were changes on both sides as the game wore on. Z. Bassong and C. Harris were both substituted in the 75th minute for Sporting Kansas City, while C. Wallem and S. Jeong came off together for St Louis City in the 84th minute. E. Karic made an appearance for the hosts in the 89th minute, and the match concluded without further drama.
The result leaves Sporting Kansas City 15th in the table with 15 points from 22 games, a position that reflects their recent struggles. They have lost four of their last five matches, including defeats to Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles, while St Louis City sit sixth with 34 points and have won three of their last five outings.