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Union set to battle Galaxy at StubHub Center

Jun 19, 2015 - 5:00 PM Carson, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of clubs looking for bounce-back performances will tangle on Saturday as the Philadelphia Union travel to the StubHub Center to face the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Philadelphia comes into the fixture in decent form having won three of their last five league matches, but will try for three points after suffering a 2-1 defeat to New York City FC at PPL Park in their last league match on June 6.

After each team struggled to create quality scoring chances in the opening 45 minutes, C.J. Sapong struck just after the restart when a corner kick from Cristian Maidana fell to him 12 yards from goal, allowing the forward to roll home a shot just inside the left post.

The lead lasted just seven minutes, however, as Thomas McNamara found space 30 yards from goal to lash a shot into the upper corner, leaving Union goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre with little chance.

Sebastien Le Toux forced a nice diving save from NYC goalkeeper Josh Saunders when his deflected effort was heading toward the bottom corner of the net.

And with three minutes to play Patrick Mullins struck the winning goal as he held off a defender and drove a shot past Sylvestre at his near post.

"After a run of good performances, this was a good game but one where we're disappointed to leave with no points," said Union manager Jim Curtin. "It's an empty feeling right now for the guys but I think we pushed the game well and had good moments."

"Whether the timing of our runs was a little off or our service let us down, we were never able to take a real stranglehold of the game," Curtin added. "I thought even at 1-1 we pushed the game a ton. (Zach) Pfeffer came in and got a couple of chances, a couple looks, and gave us some great energy. Unfortunate that we weren't able to preserve the lead and gave up the second goal."

Los Angeles, meanwhile, returns home looking for three points after a 1-1 draw against Columbus Crew SC last week.

Los Angeles opened the scoring in the 14th minute when defender Robbie Rogers drove into the penalty area on the left side of the pitch and cut to the inside looking for a shooting lane.

Rogers lost the ball in his feet, but Sebastian Lletget was there to blast it past Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark to the near post to put the visitors in front at the break.

But the Crew battled back to equalize in the 66th minute as Ethan Finlay ran in behind the Galaxy defense and played it across to Federico Higuain for an easy tap-in and his fourth goal of the campaign.

"It was a good result. Our team played well tonight. Not an easy game, another game on the road, with a weather delay and that's hard on the players," said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. "We lost a couple players with some muscle injuries due to the delay and all of that. So it wasn't easy, I give our guys a lot of credit. They played hard and to get a point on the road is always good."