Ashley Westwood scored on a free kick in the second half and Kristijan Kahlina finished with five saves for his third straight clean sheet in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night.
Westwood drilled a right-footed shot to the top right corner of the net in the 60th minute for his second goal of the season for Charlotte (6-5-2), which was coming off back-to-back shutout victories at home to begin May.
Kahlina has five clean sheets this season, tying him with Cincinnati’s Roman Celentano for the league lead.
Chris Brady had one save for the Fire (2-7-4), who have gone 0-4-2 — with both draws scoreless — in their last six matches. The Fire have not won since beating the Houston Dynamo at home on April 6. The Fire have allowed 23 goals, tied for second most in the Eastern Conference, and scored just 12. The club falls to 2-4-1 at home.
Kahlina had two saves and Brady was not tested in a scoreless first half.
Charlotte’s first-year manager Dean Smith notched his first victory away from home.
Charlotte returns home to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Fire will host the Columbus Crew on Saturday.