(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
Sept. 20, 2017 at Sylvan Lake Park
Availability: HC Anthony Pulis, CB Conor Donovan
- Orlando City B return home after a road game against Saint Louis FC on Sept. 16 to play the No. 3 Charleston Battery on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
- So far this season, Charleston third-best goal differential in the Eastern Conference and the seventh-best in all the United Soccer League (+13).
HC ANTHONY PULIS: “Probably the most athletic team in the league. They’ve got a lot of size. Very dangerous off set pieces. And they’re a counterattacking team. Lots of pace in forward areas. They’ve got two wide players that are dangerous in 1-v-1 situations. Forwards that can stretch the defense if you’re not switched on, so it’s important we defend properly, but also we—I mean, we’ve come up against them a number of times over the years, so we kinda have a good idea of what they’re gonna be about, and they’re probably the same as us.”
CB CONOR DONOVAN: “Yeah, I mean, it’s gonna be a massive game. I mean, every game, from here on, is gonna be huge with playoff implications, but Charleston’s a good team. They got a lot of good forwards and a lot of good attacking players, and, I mean, their record speaks for themselves. It’s gonna be a tough game, and I think every game in the [United Soccer League’s] been tough this year, and it’s a lot of good competition, but it’s a massive game for us.”
- OCB are coming off a two-game losing streak after enjoying a 12-game unbeaten streak that lasted from June 23 to Sept. 7.
- The USL Lions are currently in the eighth and final USL playoff position but only hold a one-point lead over Bethlehem Steel FC and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and a two-point lead over Saint Louis FC.
HC ANTHONY PULIS: “Yeah, it’s—I mean, we’ve had a look at [the standings], obviously. And you try not to spend too much time looking at it, and I think we’ve kind of communicated that message with the players as well ’cause it’s about us, at the end of the day. It’s about what we do, and we need to obviously see if we can pick some points up between now and the end of the season over the remaining four games. And if we can perform like we did on Saturday against Saint Louis [FC], then we won’t have any complaints from me.”
“Well, the message that I’m always communicating with the players is you don’t get too high when you win, and, by the same token, you don’t get too low when you lose. So, for me, it’s about being on an even keel, and we prepare the guys exactly the same for every game. We approach training with the same mentality, and once we finished the video debrief yesterday on the Saint Louis game, a line was drawn under that game, and the focus was straight on Charleston and, first and foremost, making sure that we train properly this week and we have four really good, bright, intense days of training. See what personnel we get from [Orlando City SC head coach Jason Kreis] and his staff. Hope we find out this afternoon, and then we go from there.”
CB CONOR DONOVAN: “I just think get back to basics. Obviously, the last two losses were tough, but I think once we get back to just defending and keeping the ball a little bit better and just be more aggressive going forward, and I think we’ll be alright. I think, I mean, we’ve had a decent performance last game, and we just gotta keep building on that.”
- Since first-team goalkeeper Josh Saunders’ season-ending neck injury, OCB goalkeeper Jake Fenlason has relinquished Earl Edwards Jr. of his position, allowing the latter to serve as Joe Bendik’s back-up for the club’s first team.
- Despite not having played for OCB in about a month, Edwards Jr. is still tied for fifth in saves with 75.
- Fenlason posted a 3-0 shutout with eight saves against Louisville City FC on Aug. 26.
HC ANTHONY PULIS: “Jake’s slotted in fine. I don’t think he’s had a great deal to do, in my opinion, in the games he’s played. I think he did well at Louisville [City FC] and made some good saves and got the shutout that he deserved in that game. The other two games, he’s obviously conceded the goals, but I don’t think it was an awful lot he could’ve done about them. I think it was more so making sure that the guys in front did a better job to stop the ball getting there. But I think he’s [inserted] himself fine, which we knew he would do.”
CB CONOR DONOVAN: “It’s good. I mean, obviously, his first game, we got a shutout, 3-0, and he made team of the week, so I think the transition’s pretty smooth. He’s a good goalkeeper, and, obviously, the way we’ve been working here is to defend the best we can so that [we] make the goalkeeper’s job very easy, but they’ve also—they’ve both have done a really good job backing us up.”
- Orlando City and OCB each have five and four games, respectively, remaining in their respective regular seasons.
- City will play two road games, starting with the Portland Timbers on Sunday, and will conclude the season with a visit to the Philadelphia Union.
- OCB, on the other hand, will play three of their last four regular-season matches at home with the lone away game being a visit to the Richmond Kickers.
HC ANTHONY PULIS: “I mean, not at the moment [have Kreis and I spoken about Major League Soccer players joining OCB for the remaining regular-season games] because, obviously, the MLS has still got games themselves. They’ve got a tough stretch this week. They play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. So, obviously, Jason’s gonna need a certain amount of players. Hopefully we’ll probably have a conversation this afternoon and take it from there.”
For more on OCB, as they try to stay in position for the playoffs, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
