The 10-man Swope Park Rangers held on late for a 2-1 victory over in-state rival Saint Louis FC to end their eight-game winless run on Sunday afternoon at a blistering hot Children’s Mercy Park.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Rangers defeated Saint Louis for their second win of the season. The visitors nearly took the lead in the 20th minute when Bradley Kamdem Fewo’s left-wing cross reached Kyle Greig in the center of the box but the STLFC forward saw his header bounce back into play off the inside of John Pulskamp’s left-hand post. After narrowly avoiding going behind, the Rangers opened the scoring less than 60 seconds later when Felipe Hernandez took Wan Kuzain’s pass and fired a right-footed shot past Saint Louis goalkeeper Tomas Gomez into the bottom-left corner for his seventh goal of the season. Gomez did well to keep his side’s deficit at one in the 25th minute when he denied Jerome Ngom Mbekeli’s right-footed blast from the left side of the box. Saint Louis probably should have equalized just after the half-hour mark when Albert Dikwa reached Kadeem Dacres’ low cross but skewed his shot just wide of the far post with the goal at his mercy. Pulskamp did well to ensure the Rangers got to halftime with the lead when he got down quickly to keep out Lewis Hilton’s follow-up effort from a free kick in the second minute of first-half stoppage time. Saint Louis continued to search for an equalizer after the break as Dacres saw a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area saved by Pulskamp in the 69th minute, before finally beating the Swope Park goalkeeper with a well-timed header from Paris Gee’s cross with 12 minutes remaining. The Rangers responded to retake the lead within four minutes when Ethan Vanacore-Decker popped up in the center of the box to sweep home a right-footed shot after Gomez was unable to hold a low cross through traffic. The hosts were reduced to 10 men in the 90th minute when Hernandez was shown a straight red card for an off-ball incident, but Saint Louis failed to create a clear-cut chance in seven minutes of stoppage time as the Rangers held on for a much-needed three points.

USLChampionship.com Man of the Match

Ethan Vanacore-Decker, Swope Park Rangers – Vanacore-Decker scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute to help the Rangers claim their second victory of the season at Children’s Mercy Park.