KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Little-used forward Kyle Miller scored a fluke stoppage-time goal in his first start for Sporting Kansas City, salvaging a 1-1 draw against English side Stoke in an international exhibition on Wednesday night. Miller, who began this year with the reserve team and didnt sign a contract until May 30, just happened to be in the way of goalkeeper Asmir Begovics clearance attempt in the second minute of added time. The ball hit him in the head 40 yards from goal, deflected back over Begovic and sailed into an empty net. "The clearance just came right to me. I was turning my head and I saw it at the last second," said Miller, who played his high school and college soccer in the Kansas City area. "I was able to get something on it, and fortunately, it went into the goal." Despite the draw against Stoke, which finished 14th in the English Premier League last season Sportings winless streak in international friendlies reached four matches since the team renamed itself from the Wizards before the 2011 season. "I actually thought the first half we were very good," Sporting manager Peter Vermes said. "I was very pleased with the guys. We were a little impatient in the attacking half, but I think we deserved to get a result." Stoke manager Tony Pulis said his team handled the heat well. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees at kickoff. "Its difficult for us, obviously, with these weather conditions again, which were extreme," said Pulis, whose team went 1-1-1 on its summer tour of the U.S. and was winless in two matches against MLS competition. "But I thought we created a lot more chances today than we had in the other games, which was pleasing. But you could see there were times when the players were sapped for energy." Fielding a reserve-heavy lineup throughout the match, Sporting kept 6-foot-7 Stoke striker Peter Crouch in check for his hour-long stint and didnt give up a shot on goal until the second half. But in the 83rd minute, Stokes Michael Tonge drove along the end line into the penalty area and was fouled from behind by Konrad Warzycha. He converted his own chance from the spot in the 84th, getting Sportings Eric Kronberg to dive to his left and shooting just inside the other post for a 1-0 lead. cheap world cup jerseys . Wang had his worst outing of the season Tuesday night, lasting just 3 1-3 innings and giving up five runs on seven hits and three walks in a 5-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. His record fell to 2-3 and his ERA rose to 6. cheap soccer jerseys .A. Happ, infielder Emilio Bonifacio and catcher Josh Thole. Happ and Bonifacio signed one-year deals worth US$3.Last November, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers met in the East Division Final, a game that marked a high point for both clubs in a few regards. The Bombers had just won their first division title in 10 years by completing a remarkable turnaround from the 4-14 season the previous season with essentially the same group of players as the year before. Hamilton, meanwhile, was coming off its first playoff win in a decade and had just become the first team ever to beat an Anthony Calvillo-led Montreal team in a home playoff game where the future hall of fame quarterback started and finished the game. At the conclusion of Winnipegs win over Hamilton, Bomber general manager Joe Mack and head coach Paul LaPolice danced in celebration, while Tiger-Cats head coach Marcel Bellefeuille walked off the field with his head held high at having taken its team to a point in the season it hadnt reached since 2001. Both head coaches seemed to have a lot of which to be proud, especially given that each had guided his team to a division final without the benefit of one of the leagues marquee quarterbacks. But as we move into the backstretch of the 2012 CFL season, neither man is working in the CFL. Bellefeuille, fired at the end of last season, is coaching receivers in the United Football League at Omaha under former Argos head coach Bart Andrus. Meanwhile, LaPolice is at home in Winnipeg, spending the time he had planned to put into his football team with with his wife and children. And neither team would appear to be the better for it. Which isnt to suggest that Hamiltons current head coach, George Cortez, or Winnipegs recently appointed Tim Burke arent deserving of the opportunities that have come there way. Its merely a reminder that change doesnt always bring improvement. At 3-7, riding a five-game losing streak, its hard to argue that the Tiger-Cats are a better team today than they were a year ago at this team when they were 5-5, en route to an eventual 8-10 record. Bellefeuille managed the Cats down the stretch last season by alternating quarterbacks Kevin Glenn and Quinton Porter, a move that suggested he didnt really believe in either of them as his starter. Apparently neither did Ticat management because during the off-season it swapped Glenn to Calgary for Henry Burris, who has started every game this season. With the opportunity to overhaul much of the personnel on defence and make significant upgrades to the offensive talent, expectations in Steeltown were heightenned in Hamitlon.dddddddddddd But the Cats seem to have gone from an okay team to not-so-okay team over the past 12 months. The Bombers made what to many was a hasty move by jettisoning Paul Lapolice with a 2-6 record, less than half a season removed from his teams appearance in the Grey Cup game. Though general manage Joe Mack alluded to a number of things behind the scenes that concerned him, the bottom line is that on the field the Bombers seemed to be turning the corner under their former head coach. A win over Hamilton, and a last-second loss to the B.C. Lions - considered by most the best team in the CFL - hardly seemed like a strong case for dismissal based on what was happening on the field. Especially considering the teams schedule of four road games in 19 days to begin the season and the fact that starting quarterback Buck Pierce had been gone since early in the season, just one of many injuries that afflicted the Bombers. The result of the first game post-Lapolice, a 52-0 shutout to Saskatchewan, will be one theyll be talking about for a while and seems directly tied to the upheaval during the week leading up to it. Sundays rematch showed the Bombers still have some heart, but Burkes decision to forgo a 42-yard field goal opportunity - with the wind - that would have iced the game, is the biggest head-scratcher of the season so far. The decision to punt backfired when Mike Renaud blasted his kick into the endzone for a meaningless single point that resulted in Saskatchewan gaining field position at its own 35-yard line, then moving into field goal position for the game-winning kick as time expired. And while Burkes decision seemed ill-conceived to most - including TSN broadcaster Chris Cuthbert who called it "one of the most controversial coaching decisions youll get in the CFL" -- its the kind of move symptomatic of an inexperienced head coach over-thinks a simple situation and ends up botching what should have been an easy choice. And one that Burke said after the game that he got wrong. Would LaPolice have attempted the field goal? Youd have to think so. Would the Bombers, who havent scored an offensive touchdown since firing their head coach, have fared better offensively if LaPolice was still there? Its at least a fair question. The lesson here is that management tends to focus only on the half-empty half side of the glass, believing that change can only make things better. But at weve seen this season in both Hamilton and Winnipeg, that isnt always the case. ' ' '