Locomotive Improve En Route to 1-0 Victory Over Reno

El Paso Locomotive FC defeated Reno1868 FC Saturday night at Southwest University Park by the score of 1-0. The victory was a result of 90 minutes of play that saw a Locomotive team improve on their overall performance and function on the field of play. The lone goal in the match came in the 76th minute via a penalty kick converted by Sebastian Contreras.

El Paso head coach Mark Lowery made some modifications in the placement of some players on the starting eleven that resulted in a more dynamic offensive attack in front of a home crowd. This combined with another solid defensive effort that resulted in second straight clean sheet allowed for the Locomotive to acquire a vital 3 points.
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l Paso now has a record of 2 wins, 2 loses and 3 draws for 9 points thus far in this 2019 season this is currently good enough for 15th place in the Western Conference standings only 1 point out of the playoff zone.

The Locomotive held the very formidable Reno side to only 3 real scoring opportunities only a fraction of what the Locos produced over the course of the entire match. The first 2 opportunities for Reno came in first half and were thwarted by goalkeeper Logan Ketterer. In the second half a direct kick for Reno found the crossbar in the 83rd minute of play.

The second and third substitutions made by Lowry that saw Luis Herrera and Joshua Castellanos lock down the victory for the team from the 915 with a more than solid closeout effort.

After the match head coach Mark Lowry stated, that in the way he placed Jerome Kiesewetter, Derek Gebhard and Omar Salgado on the field of play up top allowed for a “…a more direct approach…I definitely felt like today I wanted to put a lineup on field, being at home that was more attack-minded.”

As for the current situation that El Paso finds itself in and the amount of points that it has Lowry said, “The guys managed the game superbly, showed a great mature performance and just based on the body of work that they have done in the past 6, 7 weeks we deserve a few more points than we’ve got. When you look at the games, I truly believe that and I wouldn’t be sitting here saying that if I didn’t think we did. I truly believe were probably 4 points below what we deserve.”

Up next for the Locos will be a road match next Saturday against the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC. Kickoff is scheduled for 6pm.