Dániel Gazdag carries the Union to a 1-0 win over Charlotte FC

The Union edged Charlotte FC, 1-0, on Wednesday at Subaru Park thanks to an own goal by Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina that Dániel Gazdag forced with a close-range header.

It took until the 70th minute for the goal to arrive on a night where the Union (8-4-3, 27 points) outshot Charlotte (6-7-3, 21 points), 11-5. But the result extended the Union’s regular-season unbeaten streak to eight games and moved the team up to third place in the Eastern Conference.

Eagles star center Jason Kelce was the celebrity pregame drummer, and he put a charge into the crowd — and nearly put a hole in the drum.

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Kelce then climbed into the River End stands to lead the crowd in a chorus of “No One Likes Us, We Don’t Care,” which was a popular song in English soccer — and at Union games, too — long before it became an Eagles standard.

Things got even livelier when Julián Carranza hit the crossbar out of a quick buildup 30 seconds after the opening kickoff. But the play fizzled out, and soon afterward, Kelce gave the megaphone back to the Sons of Ben supporters’ club to let them lead the chants as usual.

» READ MORE: Jason Kelce’s ‘No One Likes Us’ chant at Eagles parade comes from soccer

Union manager Jim Curtin hinted Tuesday that he’d stick with the 3-5-2 formation in this game, even though it would mean running out all three of his available centerbacks on short rest. He followed through on that, starting not just the same back line but the entire lineup from last Saturday’s win at New York City FC.

Curtin also acknowledged that running out the same lineup three times in eight days would be asking too much. So there will be intrigue heading into this Saturday’s home game against CF Montreal (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, free).

“Two games in a week’s no big deal — that third one’s where you get into tougher decisions, I’ll just say,” Curtin said.

It was scoreless at halftime, with the Union enjoying a 5-3 advantage in shots — and many of theirs were quite good.

The best scoring chance of the first half came in the 34th minute, when Mikael Uhre curled in a shot off a breakaway but was flagged offside. It was close, and the video review crew took a long look before upholding the call.

In the 42nd, José Andrés Martínez came close with a 30-yard blast that didn’t miss the crossbar by much. But as with so many of his long-range attempts, it ended up in the stands.

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As the second half ticked on, the Union had more than the usual incentive to score. A lead would help get one of the centerbacks — Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, and Damion Lowe — off the field to save energy for Saturday.

Charlotte manager Christian Lattanzio made his first two substitutions in the 60th minute, and another in the 72nd. Curtin didn’t make a change until the 77th, well after Gazdag’s heroics, sending in Chris Donovan for Uhre.

Lattanzio made two more changes in the 78th, reaching his maximum allowed of five, before Curtin made a second: Jesús Bueno for Carranza, moving Gazdag to the front line with Donovan.

It was defensive help, but still left the three centerbacks playing the entire game.

Gazdag departed for Harriel late in second-half stoppage time as the last sub of the night.

» READ MORE: Union Takeaways: Mikael Uhre had a game full of hustle plays vs. Charlotte, if not a goal

Before Gazdag’s, the Union’s only shots in the second half had come from Lowe and Glesnes, both from long range. Everyone else put a lot of crosses into the six-yard box, but none of them were followed by an end product.

The Union put together some pretty passing sequences along the way, but the play that produced the goal wasn’t one of them. Martínez had a shot from the top of the 18-yard box blocked, and the carom went far off to the left.

Kai Wagner chased it down, lofted a hopeful cross into a traffic jam in the middle, and Gazdag rose to head the ball toward the goal. He knocked it off the post and into Kahlina, who couldn’t corral the bounce and watched the ball fall into the net.

It was just enough for the win, even if it wasn’t much.

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