ALBUQUERQUE, N. Mex. — Phoenix Rising capped off a tough week with a 2-1 victory away to neighbors New Mexico United.

Rising took the lead through Hope Avayevu in the first half, and Darius Johnson doubled the visitors’ advantage after United goalkeeper Alex Tambakis saw red for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Substitute McKinze Gains found a consolation goal six minutes from time, but New Mexico couldn’t convert on their late pressure to find an equalizer.

Playing through fatigue

It had been a long week for Phoenix Rising.

Starting a week ago in Colorado Springs, at altitude, Rising battled to a draw despite an injury-depleted squad.

Then, the club faced off for 120 minutes against MLS squad Houston Dynamo in midweek in a U.S. Open Cup clash, with a very thin bench that produced only one substitute within the regulation 90 minutes.

New Mexico United, by contrast, hadn’t played in midweek.

“Credit goes out to Devon [Manifold] and Greg [Spence] because they do a wonderful job to get the boys prepared,” Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah said. “But the boys also did a good job mentally staying ready, knowing this is a derby. It means a lot to our fans, and this was an absolute must-win for our fans given we haven’t had the best of starts to the season.”

Negating the New Mexico attack

New Mexico United controlled much of the tempo on Saturday night, claiming 69 percent of possession. However, the hosts struggled to turn that possession into many chances, recording just two shots on target the entire match.

“Defensively, we know New Mexico is a team that likes a lot of movement, so you want to be compact in the middle and force them to go out wide,” Rising coach Pa-Modou Kah said. “I don’t think they created a lot of chances. We were the better team with the more dangerous opportunities.”

Prior to Rising taking a two-goal lead, New Mexico created just 0.31 expected goals, and hadn’t yet tested Patrick Rakovsky in the Phoenix goal. However, as the game progressed, they eventually found ways to threaten.

“We go 2-0 up, and from that moment we did not control the game well,” Kah said. “We allowed it to become a transitional game and we had a man up. That’s where we have to be calmer, find a free man and kill the match.”

Late in the match, New Mexico did have a convincing shout for a penalty kick that could have provided an equalizer, but the appeals were turned down by referee Katja Koroleva. Instead, she sent off already-substituted player Marlon Vargas.

Taking advantage of goalkeeping blunders

It wasn’t the finest of nights for New Mexico United’s goalkeeping corps.

For Rising’s first goal, Alex Tambakis produced an impressive jumping save, but as his teammates failed to clear their lines, was ultimately embarrassed from a ridiculously tight angle by Hope Avayevu.

“It’s always up to us to finish our chances,” Avayevu said. “At that moment right there, I just wanted to finish my chance and I did. It was a tight angle, but I managed to squeeze the ball in there.”

Things would get worse for Tambakis in the second half. With Darius Johnson breaking forward, he misjudged the flight of a long ball and was caught in no-man’s land. Committing to coming out of his goal far too late, he mistimed his sliding tackle and took Johnson out, ultimately being dismissed by referee Katja Koroleva for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Kris Shakes came in to take over in goal, but suffered his own poor mistake. While Darius Johnson’s shot attempt was trickier than Avayevu’s, it again beat the New Mexico goalkeeper at their near post.

Owain’s take

Phew.

That was stressful.

Any win over New Mexico United is a good win, and to win while the hosts looked that lackluster and under control for most of the match… Yeah, that’s going to sit very, very well.

Let’s be honest: expectations weren’t high for this match. Rising has been decimated by injury in recent weeks, and coming off a midweek game, the club could have been forgiven for struggling to put their best foot forward. But that isn’t what we saw.

Yes, Rising rode their luck a little bit. Hope Avayevu’s goal probably should have been stopped by Alex Tambakis. It’s possible that Tambakis’ red card could be considered harsh due to the touch out wide just before Darius Johnson was fouled. Rising were also pretty lucky not to concede a penalty as the match drew to a close.

There was, however, no element of luck around how Rising shut down New Mexico when the hosts had possession. They had a gameplan, and they executed it almost perfectly. For most of the match, New Mexico looked utterly incapable of threatening.

While Rising had their luck throughout the match, they created that themselves.

The question now for Phoenix is going to be how they continue to build on this result. One win alone doesn’t change a season, and if the team returns to struggling as they face Monterey Bay next week, it’ll be straight back to square one.

But every journey has to start somewhere, and Rising will have to hope that this is the start of theirs.