Road or home. With or without striker Diego Serna. Regardless of the scenario, the result has been the same for Miami FC: A stout defense can only shelter its nonexistent offense for so long before the match unravels.

as the Blues lost their first road match of the season, 1-0 to the Charleston Battery, in front of 2,554 at Blackbaud Stadium.

After a nip and tuck affair for most of the evening, midfielder Darren Spicer put the Battery ahead in the 77th minute when he capitalized on a free kick that was redirected by Nelson Akwari.

For Miami FC, which has scored once in its past four games -- all losses -- the deficit was insurmountable.

Charleston (3-0-4) remained undefeated on the season and ascended into a tie for first place of USL-1 with Carolina and Rochester.

The defeat came without Serna, serving his second red-card suspension of the year. Yet the Blues (2-4-0) did have three missing players return: Cuban defectors Pedro Faife and Reinier Alcantara, who started, plus Brazilian Paulo Araujo Jr., who came off the bench.

Miami FC had big plans for Faife and Alcantara, both formerly of the Cuban national team, but international clearance progressed at a glacial pace. They could practice, but not play in regular-season matches.

Until Wednesday.

Alcantara got the start at forward in place of Serna, while Faife opened the match at midfield.

Faife and Alcantara showed a knack for finding each other in traffic, bringing a passing competence that had been lacking at times in the Blues' first five matches.

But they couldn't find the back of the net, and in the end, the result was the same as the Blues' previous three contests.

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