For an extended portion of Wednesday's match against the Harrisburg City Islanders, Chattanooga Football Club was the better team.
But in a 10-minute span, the Islanders showed one major difference between an amateur club and a professional team.
Aaron Wheeler and Craig Foster scored late in the second half for the Islanders, who won the U.S. Open Cup third-round match 2-1 in front of a crowd of 2,595 at Finley Stadium.
CFC (4-2) returns to competition Saturday night, facing National Premier Soccer League newcomer Memphis City FC at 7:30 in the second game of a doubleheader at Finley. The CFC women host the Gulf Coast Texans at 4:30.
CFC played Wednesday without starting goalkeeper Greg Hartley, forward Luke Winter and midfielders Matt Aldred and John Carrier. Those absences - plus the fact that only three substitutions per match are allowed in Open Cup play - hampered CFC against an opponent who has been conditioning and playing for three months.
"For 65 minutes I thought we were the better team, but we started to tire," CFC head coach Bill Elliott said. "That's the difference - they've been together since early March, late February, preparing physically for these moments. We've been together for three weeks.
"I really think the difference was their professional fitness finally took over. We got a little sloppy, and they finally punished us."
CFC's Soren Yuhaschek scored just before the end of the first half. Danny Reynolds' corner kick was deflected toward the goal by Juan Hernandez, with Yuhaschek - a first-year defender - finishing the play.
That lead held up until Wheeler's goal in the 72nd minute. Wilson scored the go-ahead goal in the 81st. In both cases, Elliott said his team got caught "ball-watching."
CFC had a few late chances but was unable to net the equalizer.
"A couple of times, we got caught in the moment instead of paying attention to our jobs. That tends to happen when you get fatigued," Elliott said. "We've got to clean that up if we want to be the best version of ourselves.
"Still, for us to put them to the test, to have to work for it and earn it, we have a lot to be proud of."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.