With RGV carrying a 2-1 lead, Bonner propelled OKC down the stretch, first with a headed equalizer off of a deep Michael Harris throw-in from midfield and then a near post header off of Luis Martinez’s corner kick.

“A couple corner kicks before that, Luis put it near post and I told him to put it in that same spot,” Bonner said. “He put it on the money. I was going full speed, so if it was in front of me more or behind me, I wasn’t going to get a head on it. I have to give credit to my teammates on those.”

“He’s a beast in the air the last 20 minutes,” Nielsen said. “We kind of were hoping we could get some good service into the box and we scored off a throw-in. We scored off a corner kick in the end. He really put himself out there, especially on his first goal where he had to take a knock from the keeper as well – extremely brave by him. The second goal, [it was] a great service from Martinez and perfect timing on the run. We all went crazy when that happened.”

Bonner’s late presence was a massive statement for an Energy FC offense that has struggled all year. Nielsen made a strong, but necessary, decision to try and find a jolt in the attack as he brought on Bonner and Wojciech Wojcik to replace Danni Konig and Andy Craven.

Ultimately, the move to get Bonner into the final stretch paid off.