TORONTO (AP) — Aziel Jackson ended a scoreless match five minutes into the second half with his first career goal and St. Louis City held on for a 1-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.
Jackson, a 21-year-old rookie, used an assist from Akil Watts to score in his third start and 12th appearance this season. It was the second career assist for Watts, a 23-year-old rookie, making his fourth start and 10th appearance.
Roman Bürki finished with three saves to earn the clean sheet for St. Louis City (12-7-2), which has posted three straight victories following a 0-3-1 skid.
Tomás Romero saved five shots in his first career start for Toronto (3-10-10). Romero started 18 times for LAFC in 2021 in his only previous league action.
Toronto saw its five-match win streak against expansion teams come to an end. St. Louis City joins the Seattle Sounders (2009), New York City FC (2015) and Los Angeles FC (2018) as the only first-year clubs to win in Toronto.
Toronto has lost five straight and is 0-5-3 in its last eight outings. It is the club's fifth losing streak of four or more since the start of the 2021 season. They had zero such streaks from 2016-20.
St. Louis City continues to lead the Western Conference. The club's 35 points through its first 20 matches tied LAFC for second best all-time by a first-year club. Only the 1998 Chicago Fire had more with 37.
St. Louis City travels to play Los Angeles FC on Wednesday. Toronto travels to play the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
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