Six days after his 83rd-minute penalty gave the RailHawks a 1-0 win in Austin, Paladini delivered a 90th-minute winner on Friday, allowing the RailHawks to escape with a 1-0 win over Cleveland before a crowd of 5,238 at WakeMed Soccer Park.

After three straight wins on the road since their last home match, three points were a virtual given on Friday when the RailHawks returned to their home pitch and met an opponent – the Cleveland City Stars – whom they thoroughly whipped 3-0 a week earlier.

But it looked like those three points would never materialize.

The City Stars (1-5-1) sat behind the ball for much of the night and the RailHawks couldn’t figure out a way to crack their defense through the run of play.

But then Paladini stood over the ball 40 yards from goal as the clock ticked toward the 90th minute. His low-flying laser deflected off the City Stars’ wall, a deflection that threw Cleveland goalkeeper Hunter Gilstrap just off the ball’s path and allowing it to sneak in at the far post.

The RailHawks dominated possession in the first half, but all that time on the ball garnered just four shots, none on frame. Carolina finished with 12 shots.

In the 13th minute, John Cunliffe pushed a shot from 20 yards just wide after and he Matt Watson created the chance with a nice 1-2 build-up through the middle.

In the 33rd minute, Watson and Daniel Paladini worked off one another that ended with Paladini’s look from 18 yards, but his swerving shot sailed just high.

The RailHawks continued to threaten early in the second half. In the 49th minute, Watson laced a shot from just inside the area that deflected off a defender. Then, in the 56th minute, Paladini hit one from 25 yards that Cleveland’s Gilstrap tipped it off the post.

Cleveland forward Ricardo Pierre-Louis had a pair of threatening chances, one in the 21st minute and another in the 59th, but both times he launched his shot well over the goal.

Carolina goalkeeper Caleb Patterson didn’t need to make a save on his way to record his fourth shutout of the season and the RailHawks’ league-leading seventh. With their fourth shutout in a row, the RailHawks haven’t conceded a goal in a club record 396 minutes.

The win is also Carolina’s fourth in a row, their longest such win streak in club history.

The first-place RailHawks (7-2-1) will have an 11-day layoff before returning to the field. They will next play the Richmond Kickers in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup on June 9 at WakeMed Soccer Park, followed two days later by a return to league play against the Portland Timbers.