It was delight on the night for DC United as they marked their first home game of September with a 1-0 victory. As for the Philadelphia Union, the offensive struggles continued as they created chances, but failed to score for the second game in a row.

Chances came early for both sides as Philadelphia had the first opportunity of the first half when Amobi Okugo found Conor Casey in the DC box with a ball in behind, but Casey was ruled offside in the 3rd minute. Just a minute later, DC responded as sprinting from the left, Fabian Espindola cut in but his shot came off of Maurice Edu- an occurrence we would see more than once on the day. 

The early action continued as just seconds later Sebastien Le Toux got to the byline, and his cross found an on rushing Andrew Wenger whose shot was caught comfortably by Bill Hamid. Hamid would be called into action again as a corner for Philadelphia in the 7th minute led to a Wenger shot that was palmed wide by the DC goalkeeper.

The positive start for Philadelphia would however turn sour in the 10th minute, as Sean Franklin's shot was blocked by Edu, but the ball fell to Franklin following some sloppy defending and Franklin curled a cross past the onrushing Edu and Raymon Gaddis, into the post and it was met by the head of Luis Silva who scored the game's only goal to put DC head 1-0. 

Philadelphia would create chances for themselves, as they looked to respond quickly and a corner in the 13th minute eventually found Wenger, whose shot deflected off the face of Chris Korb, painful but effective defending. Philadelphia got forward again in the 15th minute, when Williams on the right sent in a ground cross toward Le Toux but it was cut out well by Taylor Kemp.

Then, in the 16th minute disaster struck for Philadelphia as their leading scorer, Sebastian Le Toux rolled his right ankle follow a challenge from Kemp. The injury was later confirmed to be a right ankle sprain. Le Toux would come off for former DC United winger Danny Cruz as he limped toward the bench.

Not long after the substitution, DC came close to doubling their tally as Rais M'Bohli palmed away a Perry Kitchen shot from distance in the 22nd minute. 

There would be another piece of excellent defending from DC in the 26th minute as Casey got to the corner and tried to find Cruz with a cross but Steve Birnbaum intercepted it and knocked it forward to squash the Philadelphia attack. 

Soon after there was panic from Philadelphia as Hamid found Silva in the Philadelphia box with a goal kick, but his shot was cleared off the line twice in dramatic fashion by Carlos Valdes in the 27th minute.

DC again closed the lid on the Philadelphia attack in the 32nd minute when Cruz surged forward on the right and cut in but his shot was blocked well by Kemp. Kemp was the man in the spotlight again in the 37th minute this time on the offense as he shot from distance, but it only found the feet of Philadelphia's Vincent Nogueira. It was a nervy period for Philadelphia as they tried not to concede a second goal and goalkeeper M'Bohli looked out of sorts.

The Philadelphia defense would again be called into action in the 40th minute with some textbook corner defending  from Cruz as he cleared a cross out of the box from his position at the post, Philadelphia were struggling to get out of their own half.

Philadelphia would have their best chance of the first half with a seemingly rare foray into the DC half in the 41st minute as Cristian Maidana would draw several defenders dribbling, twisting, and turning in front of the DC box before moving it wide to Gaddis whose floated cross found the head of Casey, but Casey couldn't direct his shot on goal, as a poor first half for Philadelphia ended 1-0 to DC.

Philadelphia would however start the 2nd half much more positively as Maidana's cross field pass found Cruz in the box in the 46th minute, as Cruz got a shot off but the shot and Cruz were smothered by Bill Hamid.  The Union would get forward again in the 48th minute as Maidana sent in a cross from the right but it was too high for the head of Connor Casey.

Then, with a piece of physical goalkeeping, similar to his counterpart earlier, Espindola was clobbered by M'Bohli after being played into the box by Silva, but M'Bohli got the ball fairly.

M'Bohli would come to Philadelphia's rescue once again as he continued a much better second half in the 52nd minute when Nick DeLeon's cross found Silva in acres of space off of a counter attack but M'Bohli lept onto it before Silva could control the ball.

Philadelphia would get another good opportunity in the 55th minute as Maidana took the costless kick following a series of faked runs and found the head of Sheanon Williams at the near post, but it was an easy catch for Bill Hamid. The Union would come agonizingly close to an equalizer in the 61st minute, when Wenger surged forward off of a driven long pass from Gaddis, but his poked shot was just inches from goal.

The game began to settle down in the last 20 minutes as the 69th minute saw another comfortable save for M'Bohli, as Chris Pontius took a shot on the right side of midfield, having come off the bench following a long layoff due to a hamstring injury. Philadelphia began to get desperate as Nogueira's shot from distance, one of several on the night was well wide of goal in the 71st minute.

Espindola did will and fought off the challenge of Williams to lift a cross into the box for Eddie Johnson, in the 77th minute, but his header was wide of goal. Like Pontius, Johnson also made his return from injury on the night, brandishing a Petr Cech-style rugby hat following a concussion earlier this season.

Philadelphia would manage to get one of their shots from distance on target on the night as Edu, who had been poor much of the night, blasted one from right outside the box in the 79th minute, it bobbled dangerously in front of goal but Hamid managed to smother it before Cruz could get to the rebound.

A costless kick was awarded in the 85th minute as Kitchen took Maidana down right outside the box to receive the first yellow of the game, the yellow meant Kitchen would miss the next game as a result of yellow card accumulation. Maidana hit the wall as Philadelphia's last chance on the night fizzled out. 

DC however almost added a 2nd in the dying minutes of the match as Neal found the run of Johnson in the 87th minute, Johnson then ran at the back 3 of Philadelphia, but M'Bohli leapt onto the pass. Finally, with the last action of the game, Edu received a yellow for a last ditch tackle on DeLeon, he was fortunate not to get a red. Minutes later the whistle blew, delight for DC, despair for Philadelphia.

Next for DC, they face Sporting Kansas City at RFK Stadium on October 3rd with the opportunity to go nine points clear of their Eastern Conference rivals.

As for Philadelphia, they return home to take on the Chicago Fire on October 2nd, desperate to salvage their quickly fading playoff hopes.