Monterey Bay F.C. comeback effort falters after going a man down, fall 3-1 at LA.

After going a man down for the second consecutive match, Monterey Bay F.C. could not hang on, falling 3-1 at LA Galaxy II on Saturday.

“I don’t know what to tell you, I’m very disappointed,” said forward Seku Conneh, who scored Monterey Bay’s lone goal. “We have stuff to work on. We have to be sharper.”

Conneh’s score came midway through the second frame and cut a 2-0 deficit in half, keeping MBFC in the hunt for a time. Morey Doner fed a cross into the box and Conneh’s diving header beat LA goalkeeper Eric Lopez.

But in the 81st minute, Hugh Roberts received his second caution and was shown the red card, leaving Monterey Bay to finish with 10 men. The hosts quickly capitalized, with Preston Judd making it 3-1.

“We were able to get a great goal, but plenty of other opportunities that we could’ve probably created and could’ve gotten something out of, we didn’t,” explained Monterey Bay goalkeeper Dallas Jaye.

The Union had chances. In the game’s early going, Chase Boone cleared his defender and moved the ball into the box where he found Mobi Fehr. But Fehr’s shot was cleared away. Late in the first half, Roberts fired just wide of the right post.

Down 2-1 in the 71st minute, Christian Volesky made a bid to even the score. Blasting from distance, his shot hit the crossbar and deflected away.

Monterey Bay falls to 1-0-5 on the season. The team has a bye week, returning to action April 30 at San Antonio.

“I think the biggest thing for the bye week is getting rest and getting guys healthy,” Jaye said. “If we can come out of the bye weekend with a few more of the guys that we haven’t had for the last few matches, that’s a great start right there.”

Rafi Diaz, Grant Robinson, Arun Basuljevic, Sam Strong and Chris Cortez remain sidelined by injury. Robbie Crawford was on a game suspension after receiving a red card against El Paso.

Last week the team signed goalkeeper Carlos Herrara to a 25-day contract to fill the vacancy created when Diaz went down.

Monterey Bay returns home for the first time on May 7 against Las Vegas, a 7pm kickoff.