Fury's four game winning streak snapped

The Philadelphia Fury returned home to Washington Township High School for a top of the table clash against Western Mass Professional Soccer Club on Saturday. Unfortunately, the team's four game win streak was snapped with the visitors coming from behind and winning 2-1.

The two teams started out fast, with both sides taking advantage of their speedy forwards to look for the early goal. An early scare for the Fury occurred when defender Nick Vanino tried to handle a loose ball by the end line with a Mass player behind him. He wasn't able to get a clean touch, but goal keeper Chase Clement was lucky to be close by and cleared the ball.

Both sides kept going for multiple chances but couldn't get the goal they were looking for. For the Fury, it was multiple shots that were either collected or went wide. For Western Mass, Matt Mitchell hit a shot that banged off the cross bar.

The referee was a big story in this match. He made many questionable calls that frustrated both teams. Many of them came from off the ball and included a questionable one in the box. The ref blew the whistle for a call in the box and called for a Fury free kick directly in the box (think the Chivas USA - Philadelphia Union free kick goal from last year - about 4:41 into the video below). Instead of scoring though, the ball was bounced around in the box and went wide.

The Fury finally got on the board when Seydou Ba received a long pass from Clement and got it pass the keeper. It made it 1-0 and the team went into halftime with the lead.

The second half saw the two teams come out firing, but neither could find the back of the net. The questionable calls were continuing to come from the ref against both coaches, with Fury coach Matt Driver especially becoming more frustrated with the calls.

Western Mass started and completed their comeback in the span of three minutes. Chris Rosswes scored off an assist from Will Daniels in the box in the 84th minute to make it 1-1. Then  in the 86th minute Daniels dribbled untouched and made it 2-1.

The Fury started to move players forward to get a goal back but the whistle blew and the game was over with Driver and the 500 fans in attendance very upset at the officials.

The Philadelphia Fury go back on the road next Saturday when they face Icon FC in Montville, NJ.