The last day of training before Ottawa Fury FC left for last weekend's match in Atlanta, Pierre-Rudolph Mayard got an earful from his coach.

Marc Dos Santos obviously wasn't pleased with Mayard's performance in a particular drill and let his player know as much, alternating between French and English and finishing with a "come on, man, let's go."

Mayard executed the drill perfectly on his next couple reps. He had obviously taken whatever message Dos Santos had given him to heart and carried that over into Saturday's 3-0 win in Atlanta, a game in which Mayard played a big role.

The Laval native, who has played under Dos with both the Trois-Rivieres Attack and Montreal Impact, got his side the early lead, poking home a flick on by striker Tommy Heinemann in just the third minute of play.

The goal stood as the winner and pretty much makes Mayard a lock to start Sunday's home matinee against league leaders Minnesota United. If Mayard does stay in Dos Santos' starting 11, it will be the fourth start in a row for Mayard, who prior to that hadn't started a match since the spring season.

Mayard is playing and training with more confidence than he had through his first few months with the club and acknowledges he has changed a couple of things in terms of how he approaches the game.

He said he's tried hard to improve his own work ethic while paying even closer attention to what Dos Santos asks of him on the training pitch.

"I'm working on my weaknesses and that's paying off a lot. If you continue working hard, one day (the coach) is going to see and he's going to give you a chance.

"That's what he did and I took it."

Mayard hopes getting his first goal will open the floodgates for him offensively.

"It's always a great feeling, great emotion to score a goal," he said "Now I just hope I'm going to get more under my belt."

As for Fury's recent success -- Sunday's game against Minnesota will be a battle of the league's two hottest teams at the moment -- Mayard said it's a result of a new group getting increasingly comfortable with the system.

"You start a new team with new players it's not easy to get everyone on the same page," he said. "Everyone understands the model of play that we need and we want, so I think everyone's getting on the same page and we're working hard together."

PLAYOFFS POSSIBLE

With everyone on Fury FC having seemingly bought into Dos Santos' mantra to treat every upcoming match as a final, nobody is looking too far down the road.

It's hard not too, though, as Fury is slowly but surely inching up the NASL table. The expansion side needs a top-four finish for the combined fall and spring seasons to qualify for the four-team post season. While Ottawa now sits eighth thanks to last weekend's road win, they are just eight points behind fourth-place Carolina, with Fury holding a game in hand.

Fury's four-game losing streak during the early part of the fall season will make the playoffs difficult, considering Ottawa still has to jump over Fort Lauderdale, Edmonton and Tampa Bay to get there, but with three wins, a draw and a single loss in its last five contests, Fury players realize it's possible.

"It's hard work, it's attention to the details," Dos Santos said Wednesday when asked to explain his teams good run of form lately. "I've said it before, the character of this group, even when we were not getting the results, is very strong."

SIDELINES

For the fifth time in six weeks, Fury FC players were named to the NASL Team of the Week following last weekend's action. This time, it was Spanish defender Ramon Soria, who has earned and kept the left back position vacated by Maykon, and Brazilian forward/midfielder Oliver, who scored the second goal in Tampa Bay, receiving the honours ... Two new trialists arrived at training this week, including former Toronto FC forward Johann Smith and Christopher Bugay, most recently of Greek club Fostiras ... Speaking of trialists, Dos Santos explained that others who have been invited to Fury training weren't trying out for this season but were being evaluated prior to next season's training camp ... Fury FC is inviting young fans to join the Big Joe and Friends Kids Club before this weekend's visit from spring season champions Minnesota United. Members will be able to come hang out and meet players on the pitch following Sunday's match, with plenty of other membership perks. Details at OttawaFuryFC.com ... Don't be surprised if Fury makes another move or two ahead of the upcoming Sept. 30 roster freeze. "

Twitter: @chrishofley