Allan Saint-Maximin Scores, Misses a Penalty and Sees Red as Charlotte FC Rout Orlando City 4-0

Allan Saint-Maximin packed an entire season's worth of plot into one Halloween afternoon. He scored a beauty, had a penalty saved and was sent off after a VAR review, all inside 40 minutes of the second half. Somehow, Charlotte FC barely noticed.

Charlotte beat Orlando City SC 4-0 on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium, the club's second 4-0 home win of the week. Henry Kessler, Saint-Maximin, Abdoulaye Doucouré and Rodolfo Aloko scored, and Kristijan Kahlina made eight saves to keep Orlando's busy attack off the board.

Fast Start, Then the Kahlina Show

Head coach Dean Smith wanted a quick start, and his team delivered one. Orlando actually tested Kahlina first, with Antoine Griezmann and Marco Pasalic both forcing saves in the opening four minutes. Then, in the sixth minute, Ashley Westwood floated a free kick into the box and Kessler rose to head it into the bottom left corner from close range. The club says it was Kessler's second goal of the season.

"There's no thoughts at that point, which is like the best when you're not thinking during the game," Kessler said.

The rest of the half was a shootout between Orlando's forwards and Charlotte's goalkeeper. Martín Ojeda had efforts saved in the 12th and 22nd minutes, and in the 41st, Iago Teodoro hit the right post from a set piece. At the other end, Maxime Crépeau saved an Idan Toklomati header in the 20th, and Liel Abada and Saint-Maximin both missed the target late in the half. Charlotte took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Orlando tried to shake things up at the break, sending on Eduard Atuesta and Adrián Marín for Luis Otávio and Vinícius Nogueira. It did not buy them much time. Saint-Maximin needed four minutes of the second half to double the lead. Harry Toffolo found him, and the French winger, as the club described him, drove a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner in the 49th minute. Per Charlotte, it was his second goal for the club and his first at home.

Orlando kept pushing and Kahlina kept answering, stopping Braian Ojeda in the 51st, Martín Ojeda in the 75th and Griezmann twice in the 77th and 78th. Pep Biel nearly made it three when his shot from the right side of the box clipped the crossbar in the 67th.

The Saint-Maximin Experience

Then came the chaos. In the 82nd minute, substitute Aloko was brought down by Iván Angulo for a penalty. Saint-Maximin stepped up in the 84th and Crépeau saved it, but Doucouré, on the field for three minutes, pounced on the rebound and made it 3-0. According to the club, it was his first goal for Charlotte in only his second appearance.

"Very happy, very excited with the fans, and I can see I'm already in a good place," Doucouré said.

Four minutes later, VAR upgraded a card against Saint-Maximin, and he was shown red in the 89th minute. Charlotte still found a fourth anyway. Four minutes into eight minutes of stoppage time, Tyger Smalls crossed and Aloko smashed a first-time volley high into the middle of the net.

Smith liked what he saw from the young substitute. "He's bounced back from a tough game the other day and he's a young player, as I've said many times before," he said.

Kahlina Was the Real Difference

The scoreline says rout. The shot chart says something more complicated. Orlando put eight shots on target to Charlotte's six and held 55.6 percent of the ball. Martín Ojeda alone took six shots, three on target, and Griezmann put all three of his attempts on frame. Kahlina stopped every one of them.

Smith, interestingly, thought his keeper's best moment came on a play that will not show up in the box score. "I think his best save was the one where it was offside, so it doesn't actually count in stats where the lad just flicked it and he's made a good save out to the right," he said. "Again, it's because of his status and what I think of (Kristijan Kahlina) as a goalkeeper, the other ones I expected him to make."

That was the turning point, really: Orlando's best chances came while the game was still within reach, at 1-0 and 2-0, and none of them went in.

Numbers From the Rout

• Saves: Kristijan Kahlina 8, Maxime Crépeau 2, including the penalty.
• Shots on target: Orlando 8, Charlotte 6.
• Possession: Orlando 55.6 percent, Charlotte 44.4 percent.
• Woodwork: One each, Teodoro off the post and Biel off the bar.
• Discipline: One red card for Charlotte, plus two yellow cards for each side.

Charlotte Rolls On, Orlando Slips

Charlotte moved to 15-8-10 with 53 points and sat fourth in the Eastern Conference in the standings ESPN showed after the match. Two 4-0 home wins in a week have the club rolling into Decision Day, when it visits Inter Miami CF at Nu Stadium on Nov. 7. There are concerns, though. Abada, who scored a hat trick in 18 minutes against Montréal on Wednesday per the club, went off injured in the 75th minute, and Toklomati followed him in the 81st.

"Obviously a very difficult matchup," Kessler said of the Miami trip.

Orlando fell to 12-7-14 with 43 points, and the loss ended a five-match unbeaten run. According to MLS, Columbus' win on Saturday moved the Crew past Orlando into eighth place in the East. For an Orlando side that beat Charlotte 4-1 at Inter&Co Stadium on April 22, the return trip was a harsh correction.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Saint-Maximin's afternoon felt like the movie: a goal, a miss, a red card and a lot of noise in the space of about 40 minutes. Charlotte did not need him to be perfect. It needed Kahlina to be, and he was. Smith summed it up himself: "Really, really good performance from the lads today."

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and club notes as reported by Charlotte FC (charlottefootballclub.com); standings note from MLSsoccer.com.