El Paso Locomotive FC defeated Rio Grande Valley FC by the score of 1-0 Saturday night at Southwest University Park in a match that took place behind closed doors. The lone goal scored by Dylan Mares in the 83 minute was the loudest moment of the night as the celebration cheers echoed throughout the empty Southwest University Park by the home team.

The match was highlighted by how the two halves developed. In the opening 45 minutes, the match was rather mundane. This is something that could be expected from teams that had not seen any action in 4 months. The chances created on goal for El Paso were little to none. The team struggled to get to the offensive one-third of the field of play with regularity and once they did no real threat was ever created.

Ivan Pierre Aguirre
Ivan Pierre Aguirre
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After the 15-minute halftime break the Locos came back a completely different team. The Locos had their first shot on goal one minute into the second half. From that point, the offensive attacks just snowballed for the team from the 915. Both defensive fullbacks, Andrew Fox and Bryam Rebellion spent a majority of the closing half on the attack. The constant attack from the Locos paid dividends in the 83 minute when Arron Gomez headed a pass to Dylan Mares who did not hesitate to take the right footed strike in get the ball in the back of the net.

Last night’s victory gives the Locomotive 4 points after 2 matches in this 2020 season. After the match El Paso head coach, Mark Lowry, commented the following, "After maybe not even 3 weeks of proper training this just shows how good this group of players is. The desire and the passion that they have, and the second half they really put the pressure on RGV and showed how good we can be going forward. We created a lot of really good chances and (the score) probably should have been more than 1-0."

Ivan Pierre Aguirre
Ivan Pierre Aguirre
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Undoubtedly based on that second half performance alone, the Locomotive were deserving of the win and the 3 points that come with it. The Locos next match will be on Wednesday. They will host New Mexico United, the midweek match is scheduled to kickoff at 7pm.

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