Chattanooga FC's 11-match home unbeaten run ended on Saturday night after a narrow 1-0 defeat by Chicago Fire FC II at Finley Stadium.
CFC had a plethora of chances in both halves but was ultimately unable to find the much-needed breakthrough.
Chicago opened the scoring in the 52nd minute through Jason Shokalook.
CFC responded with a flurry of chances. Daniel Mangarov had a shot fizz just wide of the post before captain Farid Sar-Sar hit the crossbar with a header. Peter Plougmand had a header from close range saved by Patrick Los moments later.
New loan signing from D.C. United, Gavin Turner, made his official club debut when he entered the match in the 64th minute, coming on for Jalen James.
As always, the Chattanooga faithful was in full voice and thought there was an equalizer in the 83rd minute when Tate Robertson had a shot hit the back of the net, but it was disallowed for offside.
Nathan Koehler had an opportunity from a set piece in the 90th minute but his header sailed over the crossbar.
"It's frustrating to lose," said Head Coach Chris Nugent in his post-match press conference. "We played well for large portions of the match. We had a lot of good territory and created good chances. Other than their goal, that was probably it in terms of clear chances they had—it was an excellent goal to their credit and the combinations were really good.
"We had a lot of the ball in the right spaces. We weren't clean enough in attacking areas throughout the field. If you play that game 10 times, we score in probably eight or nine of them. We had some chances to make it 1-0 and 1-1 and maybe two or three more, so it's frustrating. We played very well overall and we missed on a small stage of the game, and that's football unfortunately. It happens at all levels. I'm pleased with how we played and the chances we created. Individual moments can make or break you, and that's what we saw tonight."
The team will travel to Philadelphia Union II for its next league match on Sunday, July 13th before returning home to Fort Finley on Saturday, July 19th for another test against Inter Miami CF II on International Night and $5 ticket night. Tickets are on sale now at CFCTIX.com.