Charlie Hatch | chatch@enquirer.com

The Enquirer/Phil Didion

The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar

In mid-May, Mitch Hildebrandt defiantly said Futbol Club Cincinnati would only improve as the season continued.

Of course, the club went on an improbable 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup run to the semifinals, including a win where Hildebrandt stopped three penalties in a shootout win over Chicago Fire.

Monday morning at training, FC Cincinnati's goalkeeper offered the same sentiments, this time only a few days removed from a 94th-minute penalty save that gave the club a 1-0 win Friday night over the Charlotte Independence.

Now six games unbeaten, Cincinnati's current form is the best of any club in contention for the United Soccer League Playoffs.

Confidence appears to grow weekly. During this run, half of the matches have been decided in stoppage time.

"It just shows everyone on the team fights the entire 90 minutes no matter what happens," Hildebrandt said. "No one gives up. To get points like that, it was crucial for us. I truly believe we have one of the best rosters in the USL, for sure."

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FC Cincinnati's best league results have come, unsurprisingly, when the schedule doesn't include cup matches or friendlies.

Friday night was only the third win the club's had on the road this season, which makes the 1-0 clean sheet against the Eastern Conference's second-place team all the more impressive. The conference's leading scorer, Enzo Martinez, is also on the Independence.

"A huge three points on the road," Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch said Monday. "Give our guys credit. You have to go on the road and play in a tough place against a good team and we managed to figure out a way to get three points."

It's worth noting, good results don't mean Cincinnati's recent style hasn't been attractive or overly creative. It hasn't needed to be. Rather, the players have taken a minimum amount of chances and delivered a maximum amount of success.

The win over Charlotte was only the third time this season the club has returned from a road trip with three points. The last road win was July 15 against first-place Louisville City.

Dissecting the six-game unbeaten streak

The run began on Aug. 23, when FC Cincinnati beat Ottawa Fury FC 3-1 at Nippert Stadium. The two teams meet again this upcoming Sunday, with a 2 p.m. kickoff.

Including that win, Cincinnati has three wins and three draws. In those ties, the club equalized in the 95th-minute. The team is getting the work done, it's just getting it done late. Not that that matters, Hildebrandt said.

"I truly believed it at the time," he said about being one of the strongest teams. "I believed it when we went through our rough stretch. That helped us. We came together as a team and we decided, 'do we keep going like that or do we dig ourselves out?' The group has really responded well to it."