Sporting KC was inches away from a wild comeback against RSL. Match recap & reaction

A wild ending at Children’s Mercy Park nearly saw Sporting KC come back from multiple self-inflicted deficits.

But Erik Thommy’s stoppage-time strike hit off the post and back out, leaving Sporting KC with a 4-3 loss to Real Salt Lake on Wednesday Night.

Sporting KC had no answer for Real Salt Lake’s speed on the counter attack, and the top team in the Western Conference needed little time on the ball to create a four-goal performance.

Meanwhile, Sporting KC — despite having much more possession and nearly twice as many shots as RSL — was doomed by sloppy play on the midfield and back line.

Three of RSL’s four goals looked the same. The speedy Anderson Julio and Andres Gomez repeatedly found space in behind Andreu Fontas, either by beating him one-or-one or filling spaces he had vacated. Both had one-on-one finishes, with Gomez beating Tim Melia twice in the 14th and 51st minutes.

Julio scored in the 33rd minute to put Real Salt Lake back ahead after Stephen Afrifa tied the score at 1-1 in the 28th minute.

Matt Crooks added Real Salt Lake’s fourth goal in 84th minute, sandwiched between Willy Agada’s two strikes, the latter of which set the stage for Sporting’s stoppage time flurry.

Another important moment: Johnny Russell’s first-half penalty kick miss loomed over the scoreline as Sporting KC fell short again.

Up next: SKC his the road, taking on the defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.

This story will be updated.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.