It was a long time coming for the Energy FC Faithful. To be exact, it was 16 games and 669 days, but the Greens finally put an end to the winless streak at home.

Sporting enjoyed the majority of the possession and chances in the first half, and CJ Cochran was called upon early with a kick save to deny Rojay Smith who’d been slipped in on goal by Tyler Freeman in the 8th minute. Another chance went begging for Peter Cuic in the 27th minute after a collision between Cochran and Mitch Osmond on a corner kick.

It was Energy FC that took the lead into the break, however. Villyan Bijev’s clever flick in the penalty area ended up being knocked down by the arm of former Green Christian Duke, and the referee awarded a penalty on the cusp of halftime.

Up stepped Bijev, whose effort low and to the right was saved by Brooks Thompson, but the rebound was well followed and calmly placed into the back of the net to give OKC the lead in the 46th minute.

The Greens had several chances to finish off the game, most notably through Frank Lopez who was a thorn in the side of the Sporting defense all night, but they decided to make it a nervy ending and rely on the stalwart defense to keep another clean sheet and preserve the win.

The victory moves Energy FC up to 10 points and 6th place in the Central Division.

Next up for the Greens is a trip east to take on Atlanta United 2 on Sunday, June 27 at 6:30 p.m. CT. As always, the official watch party is at Social Capital. Energy FC is back home next Friday, July 2 for the second Black Gold Derby of the season against FC Tulsa. That match is also Military Appreciation Night, and tickets can be found at energyfc.com/july2.

Scoring Summary:

OKC: Bijev, 46’

Disciplinary Summary:

SKC: Barbir (Yellow Card), 90’

OKC: Ellis-Hayden (Yellow Card), 93’

OKC Starting XI: GK: CJ Cochran; D: Zach Ellis-Hayden, Conor Donovan (c), Mitch Osmond, Sam Howard; M: Hiroki Kurimoto, Charlie Ward (Brad Dunwell, 80’), Aidan Daniels (Jon Brown, 89’), Arun Basuljevic; F: Villyan Bijev (Tucker Stephenson, 70’), Frank Lopez (Jaime Chavez, 80’)

Subs not used: Kyle Ihn, Sam Howard, Mueng Sunday

SKC Starting XI: GK: Brooks Thompson; D: Kayden Pierre, Graham Smith, Aljaz Dzankic, Danny Barbir; M: Peter Cuic (Coby Jones, 84’), Christian Duke (c), Jacob Davis (Dominik Reseter, 75’); F: Rojay Smith, Tyler Freeman (Osvaldo Cisneros, 83’), Enoch Mushagalusa

Subs not used: Max Trejo, Matt Constant, Michael Lenis, Jahon Rad