Neco Brett’s first goal of the season pushes the Spokane Velocity over Richmond in a League One match on Saturday

Neco Brett lifted the Spokane Velocity over the Richmond Kickers 1-0 on Saturday with his first goal of the season in a League One match at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.

Spokane (8-1-4), which boasts a league-best 13 goal differential, didn’t pull any punches against Richmond, but the Kickers (3-6-5) were prepared for their league-leading attack.

The Velocity dominated possession in the first half with 68% and outshot Richmond 7-4. Still, the Kickers registered 18 clearances and kept the match scoreless, disallowing the Velocity any shots on target.

Within a minute into the second half, Brett rifled a short-range shot off a cross from Shavon John-Brown to break the scoreless deadlock.

The Velocity had an opportunity to score again in the 77th minute when John-Brown started a fast break from Spokane’s final third with a long pass to Andre Lewis. Lewis sprinted down the left sideline, found a spot in the penalty box, and fired the ball toward the goal, but James Sneddon denied it.

Camron Miller led Spokane’s defense with five of its 15 clearances to help the Velocity permit Richmond just five shots. Miller also logged a 91% passing accuracy rate, completing 81 of 89 of his passes and a game-leading 101 touches.

Spokane’s Luis Gil finished with a game-best three chances created.

The Velocity ended with 14 shot attempts, with half of them on target, and 63% possession.

Spokane travels to Las Vegas to battle the Las Vegas Lights (USL Championship) in a USL Jagermeister Cup group stage game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

They resume League One play against Texoma on July 2 at ONE Spokane Stadium at 7 p.m.

Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.