After a tough stretch of three games in nine days, Orlando City B finally got a break in its schedule. But, instead of taking the weekend off, coach Anthony Pulis decided to make the most of that extra practice time.

“We had an inter-squad game on Saturday morning,” Pulis said. “We had three 25 minutes [periods] which was good because it got a lot of the guys 75 minutes in their legs, and they needed that, but it also kept the guys that have been playing in a rhythm … it was a worthwhile exercise and now this week we can kind of now start to focus tactically on the game plan for Cincinnati.”

A quarter of the way through its second season, OCB finds itself in the same spot where it finished last year: eighth place in the Eastern Conference. However, Pulis feels like the team itself is in a much different place than last season’s inaugural squad was at this point.

“I feel like we’re a lot farther ahead than where we were last year, individual talent-wise and also as a team,” he said. “We know that the team changes week to week, but I think the players that have been coming across from the MLS group have understood the importance of coming across and getting minutes whereas last year I feel like it took a lot longer for them to really understand the importance of coming and getting minutes in USL.”

OCB’s break, which comes to an end on Saturday when the team will play FC Cincinnati on the road, came at a very good time. The Lions have earned just one win in their last five games and have scored only twice in that time. The extra time off has given the team a chance to address some of its issues.

“It’s been a good two weeks for us because we’re able to kind of reinforce how we want to play defensively, how we want to attack,” Pulis said. “We spent a little more time on our attacking play to be honest, because we feel that we’ve defended fairly well recently. … So there’s been a little bit more time spent on some attacking patterns and how we kind of penetrate in the final third.”

As OCB continues to work on improving, the team knows that part of the issue is the youth of the roster, with 14 players who are 24 or younger.

“When it’s a lot of younger guys, a lot of new guys, it’s kind of tough sometimes to get that last final piece down,” midfielder Jordan Schweitzer said. “I think we’ve had a little bit of time to do that and then obviously, you know, brush up on some defending stuff so, ideally we come out and, you know, those things start to show a bit more.”

After more than two weeks between games, OCB is looking forward to getting back on the field this weekend at Cincinnati and putting to use what the team has worked on during its time off.

“We don’t fear anyone in this league. I think we’re capable of beating anyone on our day and that’s, you know, what we go out and try to do,” Schweitzer said. “I think everyone’s got a really good understanding of where they’re at and together, obviously, we gotta do a better job of getting those wins now.”