HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — Lexington SC needed only one goal on Saturday night to secure the victory over Detroit City FC, shutting out the home side and continuing its ascent up the Western Conference standings with the 1-0 win.
The first half was an even battle with momentum being passed back and forth. Detroit City opened on the front foot, but Lexington weathered the storm and began threatening itself after around 20 minutes of action.
Possession was split nearly 50/50 in the first half, and despite Le Rouge leading Lexington 9-2 in total shots, neither club managed a shot on target.
The flow of the second half mirrored that of the first. DCFC unleashed a flurry of attempts on Logan Ketterer’s goal early, but the Lexington keeper made two acrobatic stops to allow his side to play its way back into the match.
The breakthrough came in the 74′ minute, courtesy of the forward in scorching form, Forster Ajago. Joe Hafferty whipped in a long cross that Cory Burke met in the air, directing the ball towards Ajago lurking at the back post.
Ajago made no mistake, heading home the match-winner and extending his scoring streak to three consecutive matches. In doing so, he became the third player in LSC history to score in three straight matches (Ates Diouf, Nico Brown).
The three-point performance propelled Lexington into fourth place in the West and improved its record to 5W-1L-1D in its last seven outings.
Additionally, Ketterer picked up his fourth clean sheet of the season as a reward for his two crucial saves.
GOALS
74′ LEX: Forster Ajago (assist: Cory Burke)
LINEUPS
LEX: Logan Ketterer, Kieran Sargeant, Daniel Wu, Gaël Gibert (80′ Jacob Greene), Joe Hafferty, Blaine Ferri, Speedy Williams, Marcus Epps, Braudílio Rodrigues (54′ Cory Burke), Nick Firmino, Forster Ajago
DET: Carlos Saldaña, Devon Amoo-Mensah, Stephen Carroll, Michael Bryant, Alex Villanueva (74′ Isaiah LeFlore), Kobe Hérnandez-Foster, Ryan Williams, Haruki Yamazaki (86′ Bilal Obeid), Jeciel Cedeño, Sebastián Guenzatti (85′ Abdoulaye Diop), Jordan Adebayo-Smith
UP NEXT
The second leg of LSC’s three-match road trip commences Sunday, Sept. 28 at New Mexico United. Kickoff from Albuquerque is slated for 6 p.m. ET.