Around 9:30 Friday night, the Carolina RailHawks stood disheartened on the very same pitch that 48 hours later they would experience the greatest thrill of their brief existence.

After allowing a goal in the 84th minute Friday and losing 1-0 to Montreal, the RailHawks returned to SAS Soccer Park Sunday and dispatched the Chicago Fire 1-0 in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The opposite results came about in large part because Carolina played two opposite ways last weekend.

Against Montreal, the RailHawks had the run of play and had a handful of scoring chances, but they didn’t capitalize. It was the fourth time a Cary crowd watched the home team fail to score a goal.

Unlike most of their matches at home, where they are 6-2-5 overall this year, the RailHawks couldn’t even take comfort in their play because it gave them no points in the USL-1 table.

Dissatisfaction was rampant as a result.

“The hard work is there, but we’re just not executing,” said Carolina midfielder Chris Carrieri. “It’s very frustrating right now. It seems like we’re right there, and then we blow it.”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” said Carolina midfielder Kupono Low. “We can’t figure out how to win. We’re looking for ways to win, and we’re not finding the solution.”

Carolina let its guard down once against the Impact, and they made the RailHawks pay.

In the 84th minute, Montreal midfielder Antonio Ribeiro curled a 20-yard shot to the far post. Carolina goalkeeper Chris McClellan had the angle covered, but the shot dipped, took a bounce three yards in front of him and bent around his fingertips for a goal.

“It just took a freak bounce,” McClellan said. “I’ve never had one of those goals scored on me. It’s kind of a weird feeling. I went to make a routine save, and it just bounced up and over.”

Against Chicago, the RailHawks played their most inspired 90 minutes of the season. The confluence of an 0-2-2 stretch since July 3, losing in that fashion Friday and playing an MLS side that just happened to be the reigning Open Cup champion and the most successful MLS team in the tournament’s history served as proper motivation.

“It was a combination of everything,” said forward Anthony Maher, who served a red card suspension Friday and assisted on McColm Cephas’ goal Sunday. “We’re playing the Open Cup champions from last year. Coming off Friday was a tough result for us. We just wanted to show we know how to win and get back to the winning ways. It just happened to be against the Chicago Fire.”

The RailHawks also got help from tactical and personnel changes Sunday. They slightly modified their formation, opting out of the preferred 4-3-2-1 in favor of the more traditional 4-4-2. The switch was in part because of Cephas’ presence in the lineup.

The 5-foot-7 forward made his first start of the season against Montreal, in place of the injured Connally Edozien. Cephas had a couple chances Friday, but they all missed their marks. His style doesn’t lend itself to being the lone forward; he works better with another striker to run off of. And a player who is 5-7 doesn’t make for the best target on long balls, which the RailHawks often utilize as means to get forward.

In the 56th minute Sunday, Cephas demonstrated why he’s more effective with a second forward. He and Maher hooked up on a 1-2 play they’d worked on in training that led to the RailHawks’ goal.

Maher received the ball at the top of the box from Low. Maher faced the goal, then played through to Cephas, who then burst through a seam in the Fire defense. As Fire goalkeeper John Busch charged off his line, Cephas blasted the ball under Busch’s hand for his first goal of the season.

“It was very quick,” Cephas said. “I didn’t see it for a second. It just came to me. I was at the right place at the right time. ... It hasn’t been going my way for a while, even in practice. I was just happy we won this game. We’ve got to get back on track.”

Schweitzer also called on John O’Hara to tend the goal against the Fire. O’Hara’s only other start of the season was against Chivas USA on May 8. He shut out the Goats that night, and he made three saves Sunday to do the same to the Fire.

Sunday’s win — regardless of the opponent — was one the RailHawks needed. They failed to make up any ground in the USL-1 table during the last two weeks when they met three of the league’s top four teams four times. Both losses were a result of allowing the game-winning goal in the final six minutes of play. In one of the ties, they squandered a two-goal lead. And Carolina had not scored in 258 minutes at SAS Soccer Park before Cephas’ goal Sunday.

As Maher said, the RailHawks needed to get back to their winning ways. If they continue to play as strongly as they did Sunday, their winning ways should keep up.

“What you need to do is win. And once you do it, you become a winner,” Schweitzer said. “That’s why championship teams always make it back to the championship. They will themselves to win. We did it tonight. I think we’ll continually do it. We’ll do it for the rest of the year.”