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SAN ANTONIO, TX (August 5, 2012) - A late comeback effort by the San Antonio Scorpions came up short in a 2-1 loss to the Puerto Rico Islanders before a crowd of 10,183 at Heroes Stadium. The loss snapped the longest home unbeaten streak of the season, which ended at nine.

Two goals from Islanders forward Nicholas Addlery were enough as the Islanders (10W-4T-6L, 34 pts) held off the Scorpions (10W-5T-4L, 35 pts). Despite the loss, the Scorpions remain in first place in the NASL, one point ahead of the Islanders and the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

The Scorpions will spend their next two matches on the road, beginning with a match against FC Edmonton on Aug. 8. Kickoff for the match is set for 8:05 p.m. CT.

"I think in the second half we started to create chances with a lot of action around their box but we had some near misses," Head Coach Tim Hankinson. "I think overall they had the upperhand on us tonight and that's something we will have to figure out."
 
The early stages of the contest saw both sides exchanging opportunities to score, battling for control of the midfield and swapping shots on goal. San Antonio had a good chance for a goal in the 11th minute when midfielder Josue Soto fired a shot on goal that Islanders goalkeeper Richard Martin was unable to handle, but Pablo Campos was unable to get to the rebound before the ball was cleared.

As the first half progressed, the Islanders continued to apply pressure on the Scorpions defense and struck first in the 31st minute, when forward Nicholas Addlery received a through ball from Hector Ramos  into space and put a shot past Scorpions keeper Tyler Deric to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.

It was the first goal given up by the Scorpions at home in NASL play since April 21 in a 2-2 draw against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

The Islanders continued to put pressure on the Scorpions back line, but the first half ended with the Scorpions down by one goal.

In the 50th minute, the Islanders would add to their advantage when Addlery came into possession of another through ball and dribbled the ball beyond Deric for the second time.

The Scorpions came close to cutting the deficit down to one a few moments later, when forward Esteban Bayona found himself in a one-on-one with Islanders keeper Richard Martin in the 53rd minute, but his shot on an empty net hit the post and was quickly cleared by the Islanders defense.

Newly signed forward Jeff Cunningham, the MLS all-time leading goal scorer, made his San Antonio debut, coming in as a substitution with Hans Denissen in the 55th minute to try and help spark the offense.

With San Antonio adding more pressure and creating more chances, the Scorpions were able to cut into the deficit in the 70th minute when Pablo Campos took advantage of a poor pass back by the Islanders to head in his 16th goal of the season and cut the deficit in half.

Campos has now scored in four consecutive matches.

On the heels of the Campos goal, the Scorpions attack pressed on as they raised the pressure on the Islanders back line in the final 20 minutes, but could not find the equalizer.