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Greg Hurst finally got the opportunity to celebrate. Not once, but twice.

It didn鈥檛 matter.

The New Mexico United forward 鈥� like his teammates and coaches 鈥� left the pitch disappointed anyway.

He and United can thank Diego Abitia for that 鈥� at least in part.

The El Paso Locomotive forward scored the equalizer in the 86th minute, leaving New Mexico to settle for a 2-2 draw Wednesday to push United鈥檚 winless streak against the Texas club to four straight matches dating to last year (between regular season and the U.S. Open Cup). 

鈥淚 think we did enough in the first half to kill the game off,鈥� Hurst said. 鈥淵ou have a team like El Paso 鈥� (we) left them around too long and gave them a chance to get back in the game.鈥�

Hurst was a major reason for the confidence exiting the first half, and with it, some dance moves.

He scored in the 14th minute on an assist from Jake LaCava and then again 10 minutes later on a pass from Ousman Jabang. Rubio Rub铆n notched El Paso鈥檚 first goal in the 12th minute.

They were the first goals of the season for the Scotsman and the first time he scored since last season鈥檚 Western Conference semifinal match against Orange County SC, a string of nine matches 鈥� the 2025 Western Conference final to go along with five in USL Championship play, two in the U.S. Open Cup and one in the USL Cup this year.

Hurst led United with eight goals in 2025.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the player I think we all know he can be,鈥� Jabang said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the goals. It鈥檚 helping out in the run of play and the buildup. He鈥檚 so talented, so it鈥檚 on us to find him and nine times out of 10, he鈥檒l be what we need him to be.鈥�

El Paso (4-2-2), however, was keen to play spoiler, both for Hurst and United (2-3-1), in a second half that was filled with substitution flubs for New Mexico and the inability to counter Locomotive鈥檚 aggressive play.

Around the 70th minute, United tried to substitute Justin Rennicks for Niall Reid-Stephen, Luther Archim猫de for Dayonn Harris and Gedion Zelalem for Valentin No毛l. Archim猫de and Zelalem were held back due to Harris not getting off the pitch quickly enough and a wrong player being listed as the substitute. It left United playing with nine for a couple of minutes.

New Mexico got away with that one. It didn鈥檛 later.

Abitia鈥檚 goal came a minute after another United change: Will Seymore for Hurst and Cam Wilkerson for Zico Bailey.

And in the end, those issues 鈥� along with Abitia 鈥� left United wondering what could have been instead of what should have been.

鈥淚t was a tale of two halves,鈥� said New Mexico manager Dennis Sanchez, whose team will host Las Vegas Lights FC on Saturday. 鈥淚 thought we were very good in the first half and maybe you want more coming out of the first half. 鈥� I think we went away from what we were doing so well in the first half, which was control rotation of the first line, making them run and we started to force things.

鈥淚 thought we had enough opportunities to win a game. I think there鈥檚 definitely a level of disappointment in the group. That鈥檚 a game we feel like we should have come away with three points.鈥�

Instead, El Paso came away feeling good in another match against United.

David Glovach covers New Mexico United and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at dglovach@abqjournal.com or via X .