MIAMI – San Antonio FC swept back into the win column to round out a week on the road as goals by Deshane Beckford and Mitchell Taintor earned a 2-0 victory against Miami FC on Saturday night at Riccardo Silva Stadium.

Both teams had chances in the opening 10 minutes, with Beckford forcing a kick-save by Miami’s Connor Sparrow on a narrow-angle shot from the right before the hosts saw Lamar Walker curl a shot from the top-right edge of the penalty area just wide of the left post. Florian Valot also shot wide from a similar position to Walker for the hosts soon after before San Antonio’s Mohammed Abu had a long-range effort to the left corner parried away by Sparrow.

San Antonio grabbed the lead four minutes before halftime, however, as Justin Dhillon punished a loose pass out of the back by the hosts to play a first-time pass for Beckford into the penalty area, allowing the Jamaican to squeeze a finish past a sliding defender and into the left corner of the net for his first goal in SAFC colors. Beckford threatened again inside the first minute of the second half as well, outdueling his marker to a ball over the top before forcing a save from Sparrow, and the Miami shot-stopper had to be sharp again to keep out Dhillon just past the hour-mark.

Miami tried to find a way to get back on level terms late, and former Italian international Luca Antonelli had a flicked header off a corner from the left saved with 11 minutes remaining. Christian Sorto was also denied for the hosts four minutes later, shooting low from 25 yards beyond the top-right edge of the penalty area on an effort that was comfortably handled by SAFC’s Jordan Farr. San Antonio put the game away in second-half stoppage time, however, after Jordan Ayimbila was brought down in the penalty area, allowing Taintor to step up to the spot and put an exclamation point on the Western Conference contender’s victory.

USLChampionship.com Player of the Match

Mitchell Taintor, San Antonio FC – Taintor had an impressive game defensively, winning 8 of 11 duels and 6 of 7 aerial duels while making four interceptions, and then capped the victory with his late goal from the penalty spot.

Scoring Summary
SA – Deshane Beckford (Justin Dhillon) 41’
SA – Mitchell Taintor (Penalty Kick) 90+5’

Full Box Score