CHESTER, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union clinched the Supporters’ Shield in dramatic fashion, edging New York City FC, 1-0, on Saturday at a sold-out Subaru Park.

Mikael Uhre scored the game’s only goal in the 40th minute, and a tenacious defensive effort the rest of the way delivered the Union their second major trophy in team history — the first since the 2020 Supporters’ Shield amid the pandemic.

The trophy for the league’s best regular-season record means the Union (20-7-6, 66 points) gets home-field advantage all the way through the playoffs, and will only have to go on the road for one first-round game. They also qualify for next season’s Concacaf Champions Cup.

Before kickoff, the fans got a boost from the news that Indiana Vassilev and Uhre were fit to start, after being questionable on the injury report with knee injuries. But beyond that, the tension in the air was as thick as a Sarcone’s roll.

New York (17-11-5, 56 points) added to it just over a minute in, when Hannes Wolf sprung Alonso Martínez free and he dribbled past Andre Blake — only to shockingly shoot wide of the far post.

The Union settled down after that, and the next 40 minutes played out as a matchup of two of the conference’s top three teams should. Both teams had chances, and both goalkeepers were busy, with New York’s Matt Freese catching Bruno Damiani’s backheel in the 17th and Blake making a diving save in the 20th.

Uhre broke the deadlock in the 41st. Jovan Lukić started the play with a steal off Nicolás Fernández, then he ran forward a good 15 yards and sliced a pass through four New York defenders to Uhre, who took a few steps to his right, and decided to try his luck with a shot. The gamble paid off, as the ball deflected off Kevin O’Toole and past a stranded Freese.

That was the last of the Union’s eight shots in the half, with three on target, to New York’s three shots and one on target.

The Union could have had a penalty kick in the 44th when Martínez put his hands into Uhre’s back as they ran for a loose ball, and Uhre hit the deck. It wasn’t much contact, but it was enough for the video review officials to take a long look at the play before deciding to not call a foul.

Union manager Bradley Carnell’s first substitution came in the 58th minute, Tai Baribo for Uhre. The next move came in the 73rd, Jesús Bueno replacing Damiani and shifting the Union’s tactics to a makeshift 4-2-3-1 — with Bueno in one of the deeper spots, and Danley Jean Jacques moved up to provide more on the press.

Baribo put the ball in the net in the 77th off a corner kick, but while some fireworks went off above the River End, he had already been flagged offside. The fans weren’t happy, but the video review to confirm the call was quick.

Carnell made his last moves in the 80th, sending in Olivier Mbaizo for Iloski as an extra defender and Alejandro Bedoya for Vassilev. Now it was all hands on deck to defend the lead.

Three minutes later, New York nearly made them pay. Substitute Julián Fernandez crossed for Nicolas Fernández, and his header deflected off Nathan Harriel and barely wide of the far post.

As nervous as the mood was before the game, it was even more so as the final minutes ticked down. And it got even worse in the 88th minute when Jean Jacques shot over, then New York’s Maximo Carrizzo put the ball in the net off a quick move forward but was rightly flagged offside.

Now the crowd was really awake, and even cheered the sign of three minutes of stoppage time since it was fewer than feared.

That time passed agonizingly slowly, all the way down to a corner kick that New York took right as the clock struck 93:00. But Blake caught it, fittingly, and even more symbolically did so as his former backup Freese was second-closest to the ball.

Referee Jon Freemon blew his whistle a moment later, and at long last the job was done.

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