Alvarez's late goal boosts Battery

Battery 1, Impact 0

Montreal — Byron Alvarez came off the bench to score in the 90th minute and lift the Battery to a 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact before 10,346 at Claude Robillard Stadium on Friday night in a USL First Division soccer match.

Charleston, which plays at Rochester on Sunday at 6 p.m., improved to 4-3-3, 15 points.

"The boys played extremely well and were very organized and committed to get a good result in Montreal," Battery coach Mike Anhaeuser said. "This puts us in a good position to earn maximum points on the weekend. Byron's goal came from an errant back-pass and it was a very calm finish after he worked very hard to get the ball."

The Battery's Stephen Armstrong earned a corner in the eighth minute to set up a scoring chance. He curled a cross in for Brandon Curran, who rose above his marker. But Impact keeper Matt Jordan came up with the save.

Montreal fought back to threaten in the 20th minute. The ball was hit to the back post, where forward Freddy Moojen attempted a volley at goal. Battery keeper Dusty Hudock dropped to his left and managed to smother the shot.

Ten minutes before halftime Moojen threatened again, this time with a low cross from the left. Hudock palmed the ball away, but forward Charles Gbeke was first to react. Gbeke hit a right-footed shot that bounced back off the post before being cleared into safety.

After halftime, Montreal (4-2-4, 16 points) had two long-range shots that both just missed the target.

Anhaeuser inserted Alvarez in the 78th minute. Under pressure from Alvarez, Montreal defender Andres Arango played the ball back to Jordan. Alvarez chased down the pass and deflected Jordan's clearance toward the goal. He rounded the keeper, then fired into an empty net from an acute angle on the left side.