As the playoffs near and the regular season wraps up, the ever-humble coach O’Connor wants to ensure his club stays level-headed – even when they seem to be playing well.
Before his club took a late 2-1 lead over Rochester on Wednesday night, coach thought his team ‘needed to be better’.
“I think we almost just accepted the way the game was going and I think they were maybe looking for a draw and they were content to get a draw,” said coach O’Connor. “We were trying, but almost fear of failure creeps in a little bit where we have what we hold”.
With four games coming in the next two weeks and chance to finish the season with the league’s best record, his ‘one game at a time’ mentality will be vital.
“To be honest, we try not to worry about the other teams,” added midfielder George Davis IV, who scored his 5th goal of the year against the Rhinos. “I know it sounds cliché, but coach says it all the time that if we stick to the process and control what we can control, then the league will take care of itself”.
Managing the lineup will come with its own challenges as coach O’Connor continues to push his players to an even higher performance level.
Just nine minutes into Wednesday’s match, forward Ilija Ilic was forced to exit early with what appeared to be a leg injury and was relieved by Cameron Lancaster, who is recently recovering from an injury himself.
“Cameron (Lancaster) comes on, he’s got a fractured toe, pushes through the pain barrier and then Luke comes on and I think that little incident really gives you a snippet of what we’re all about,” said coach O’Connor. “We end up using three strikers and three guys all come on and really do their job. Great example of what we’re trying to do here.”
After the hard-fought win over Rochester, forward Luke Spencer said his team’s belief in each other is what helped the club move past the fourth-ranked Rhinos.
“It just says we have belief. No matter what minute it is in the game, no matter what the score is, we have belief in each other, in ourselves. And just in the entire club in general,” said Spencer. “We can get a result, we just have to believe in each other and in ourselves.”
