Three Goals in Five Minutes Sink Fort Wayne FC in 4-2 Loss to New York Cosmos

Fort Wayne Football Club was handed their 8th loss of the season on Saturday night at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium despite winning in nearly every significant stat category other than goals scored.

Fort Wayne finished with 59% possession and a 19-10 advantage in shots. The home side also recorded 55 touches in the Cosmos penalty area. But it was the New York Cosmos who made their opportunities count, scoring three goals in roughly five minutes spanning the halftime break.

Lamin Jawneh opened the scoring in the 44th minute after a good Cosmos buildup allowed him to find space for a shot. Fort Wayne's defense failed to step to the shooter, and the Cosmos had the lead.

Then things unraveled quickly.

A New York corner just before halftime created the second goal. Bernd Schipmann misplayed a high ball lofted to the back post. Kabiru Gafar (RW), who had been defending that post, stepped into the middle to pick up a runner and Lacey lost his mark, leaving Sergio Chavez open to slide into the back post and finish in the second minute of stoppage time.

After halftime, the Cosmos didn't give Fort Wayne any time to reset.

Just two minutes into the second half, Ajmeer Spengler led a counterattack that found Sebastián Guenzatti, in space with no one but Schipmann in front of him. Reid Sproat tracked back to the end line, but ultimately the ball got past him making it 3-0 by the 47'.

It was a brutal sequence for a Fort Wayne team that spent much of the match controlling possession.

Fort Wayne had plenty of opportunities, but only a few of them looked dangerous. The best of those chances came in the 32nd minute when Taig Healy hit a screamer forcing Cosmos' goalkeeper, Garcia, to make an excellent, sprawling save. Ryan Becher tested him again in the 87th minute with a point-blank attempt that was batted away. Garcia was beaten only once from open play, when Becher converted in the 66th minute following a Javier Armas corner.

After New York's third goal, Fort Wayne understandably changed its approach. The deficit was too large to sit back and wait. The team pushed numbers forward and accepted the possibility that doing so would leave space behind the back line.

New York was ready for it, putting their fourth goal away on a quick counter attack down the right side to Lamin Jawneh.

Fort Wayne did find a late consolation when Clarence Awoudor converted a penalty in second-half stoppage time after Becher was shoved down from behind inside the box.

It wasn't enough.

The Cosmos' Ajmeer Spengler was particularly influential in this match, finishing with two assists and repeatedly making things difficult for Fort Wayne's midfield. His ability to carry the ball, recognize space and deliver precise passes gave the Cosmos a dangerous outlet whenever they won possession.

Fort Wayne's back line of Logan Neidlinger, Reid Sproat, Tiago Dias and Michael Rempel had an uncharacteristically difficult night dealing with the combination of Guenzatti's experience, Spengler's vision, Jawneh's Speed and Shome's precision. That Cosmos quartet accounted for all four assists and three of the four Cosmos goals on the night.

When asked about his message to the team in the locker room after the match, Coach Mike Avery said, "Some nights you get what you deserve. We've had plenty of games where we didn't get what we deserved, but I kinda felt like we got what we deserved tonight,"

The defeat leaves Fort Wayne at 9-8-6 with 33 points. The club remains in eighth place, in the final playoff position, but the margin for error is shrinking. Chattanooga (7th) extended their point total to 38 with their win Saturday. Corpus Christi (10th) stayed where they are after a 2-0 loss to Forward Madison.

Fort Wayne now has a week to regroup before traveling to Greenville Triumph on Sept. 12.