On Friday night Mississippi Brilla FC visited the Baton Rouge Capitals hoping to play spoiler to Baton Rouge’s slim playoff dreams. Mississippi was eliminated from playoff contention last Saturday after losing a heartbreaker to the El Paso Patriots. In the third meeting between Mississippi and Baton Rouge this season, with each team having won at home, Brilla FC would prevail 3-1.

Despite Brilla pressuring early, Baton Rouge would strike first in the 15th minute when Gino Ray would find a wide-open Ricardo Santos behind the Brilla backline. Santos would calmly slot the ball past Brilla goalkeeper Scott Rosman to make it 1-0.

Mississippi nearly responded in the very next minute when James Gledhill found himself alone at the top of the penalty area. Unfortunately his shot was right Capital goalkeeper Dustyn Brim, who saved easily. However, Brim would not be so lucky in the 19th minute when he misplayed an Ousmane Coulibaly corner kick and fumbled the ball over his own goal line to bring Brilla level.

Mississippi gladly accepted the gift and then set about taking control of the match. Brilla continued to pressure, but it was the Capitals who would have the next clear-cut chance at scoring. Leo Barros saw his shot from close range saved by a sprawlng Rosman. Barrow collected the rebound only to see his second effort stopped by Rosman again. The acrobatic double save energized Mississippi and deflated the Capitals a little bit.

Brilla seized the lead when Michael Lindsay collected a pass from Onesimus Ikungo and hit a blistering left-footed drive into the far-post window of the Baton Rouge net in the 41st minute. Lindsay had only been on the field for six minutes after replacing an injured James Gledhill. Lindsay finished the scoring just four minutes later when he took a Tripp Harkins pass and blasted it past Brim just under the crossbar.

The second half was full of half chances for both teams and 5 cautions and an ejection for Baton Rouge. After going a man down in the 81st minute, the Capitals posed little threat to the Mississippi defense who played out the rest of the half conservatively to secure the victory.

The match was the last of the season for the Capitals while Brilla has a quick turnaround hosting the last-place Houston Leones on Saturday night. The match will be at 7:00 at Arrow Field at Clinton High School.