Having moved into sole possession of first place in the USL Eastern Conference, Louisville City FC’s players won’t be patting themselves on the back, coach James O’Connor said this week.
It’s not as if they have time to do so anyway.
Having played through the summer with games in hand on others chasing a No. 1 playoff seed, LouCity could put more distance between itself and the competition over the next few weeks as it embarks on a stretch of five games in 15 days. The run begins Friday with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against Bethlehem Steel FC at Slugger Field.
O’Connor hasn’t strayed from his approach.
“We’ve got games coming up, but again, the most important game for us is Friday night – Bethlehem,” the coach said.
Certainly, the club’s supporters will take a look at the bigger picture, one that has seen LouCity surge up the table over the last month. A 3-0 win last weekend over the Pittsburgh Riverhounds moved the boys in purple three points clear of the Charlotte Independence, and that’s while having played one fewer game.
LouCity will do some catching up, as the club follows Friday’s game with a quick turnaround to face the third-place Rochester Rhinos before a three-game road trip with those fixtures over a seven-day span.
O’Connor has appropriately rotated his squad leading up to this point in the year. Against Pittsburgh, the trio of players to score — forward Luke Spencer, midfielder Devon “Speedy” Williams and defender Kyle Smith — didn’t play in the game previous. Overall, 16 of the club’s 17 field players have found the back of the net.
“For us with the group of guys that we have, all the players have already played a huge role in what we’ve done so far this season,” he added. “I think that’s where we’re probably a little different to some teams is that all of our guys can play and do play.”
A month remains in the regular season before the single-elimination USL Cup Playoffs, in which LouCity could soon clinch a spot. The top-four seeds all host opening-round games.
Where the boys in purple position themselves will largely depend on the upcoming stretch of games. During a similarly congested part of the schedule in August, they won three of four games.
O’Connor will work to “just manage the training load,” he said heading into Friday. “I think that’s the biggest thing – (the game) will be a day early this week, so you just have to manage the training load.”
The matchup with Bethlehem will fall on LouCity’s first Friday night home date in club history. To recognize it, players will don their black and purple third kits for just the second time.
“As a player, I used to enjoy Friday night games. I really did,” O’Connor said. “You can go back to my time in England. There used to be live games on a Friday night. I used to love it.”
