(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Aug. 23, 2017 at Sylvan Lake Park

Availability: HC Anthony Pulis, DF Zach Carroll

HC Anthony Pulis

Orlando City B travel to face Louisville City FC on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

I think if [Lousiville] win tonight, then they go top. They’ve always given us difficult games. [Louisville head coach] James O’Connor’s doing a fantastic job there. They play very attractive style of football. Very expansive. Good movement. Good rotation. They press well. Be a real difficult test for us.

In the United Soccer League Lions’ recent unbeaten stretch of 10 games, OCB have drawn seven times.

Don’t concede and score more. I think at the weekend, I was a little bit disappointed, to be honest with you, because I don’t think we hit the same heights as what we have, performance-wise. But the guys showed a lot of the characteristics that you have to show on the road if you can get results. They defended well. They stuck together. Worked really, really hard, and [goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr.] made some good saves towards the end of the half, which obviously got us a point. But, I mean, a lot of the draws we had on that stretch at home—I felt like we could’ve won. And, for me, it was just about putting chances away. Just having a little bit more quality and being a little bit more clinical in the final third because I think, defensively, we’ve been pretty sound.

Forward Hadji Barry was named the Week 22 USL Player of the Week.

I’m delighted for Hadji. And it kinda shows what he’s capable of now that he’s been able to get a rhythm of playing regular games and regular minutes. I had a brief conversation with him yesterday and kind of congratulated him ’cause he deserves it, but the important thing is he doesn’t get carried away with it, and he understands why he’s been doing well and for him to not get away from that.

For Pulis, the key to his team’s recent success has been continuity in the roster.

A little bit of continuity. Just familiarity as well. Players, now, understanding each other. I think I said last week that we’ve kind of had the same group of [Major League Soccer] guys, now, coming across and playing with us a little bit more regularly. So, the OCB guys, now, have a lot more of an understanding of what they’re like as players, what they’re like as people, an idea of kind of how we wanna play and how we wanna do things. And so I think it’s just natural. We kind of had an idea that this would hopefully happen as the season goes on, and thankfully we’ve been proved right. But, as I said last week, we still got an awful long way to go. There’s a lot of games left, and we’ve not achieved anything yet.

Goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar is 19 years old with international experience but has yet to play with neither the club’s MLS side, nor USL side.

We’ve got a lot of faith in Mason. We think he’s going to be a really good goalkeeper at some stage. The disappointing thing is he hasn’t been able to stay fit. So, hopefully we can get him fit and get him training and then get him into games again. But, yeah, it’s been a tough time for him ’cause he’s certainly got a lot of potential.

Pulis isn’t sure whether Stajduhar will get his first minutes this season or next.

It’s a difficult to answer, to be honest, because, obviously, with the form that Earl’s been in, it would be difficult to knock him off. But I’d like to think he would be able to get some minutes this year, but probably the bigger picture’s gonna be next year.

DF Zach Carroll

With just 22 games played, Louisville is first in the Eastern Conference with a 13-4-5 record and 44 points.

Louisville also have the largest goal differential in the East at 23.

You know, they’re a team that likes to play up. You know, they play great soccer. You know, you see with some teams in the league where they know who they are, and, you know, they’ll play a long ball and try and pick up balls off that, but, you know, Louisville, they love to spread the guys out, play out of the back, so, you know, we’re gonna have to have our press all together, and, you know, they’re gonna be a great footballing team.

Carroll related his experience with New York Red Bulls II and their MLS players joining the team during the season.

I think it’s been great. You know, last year with New York, it was the same thing. You had guys come down who, you know, they didn’t view themselves as first-team guys. They viewed themselves as, you know, as second-team guys, and I think that’s helped a lot with the continuity in the team, and, you know, these guys coming down, they really take it serious. And, you know, I think that’s been great for us.

For Carroll, the key to OCB’s success has been improved defense.

During the 10-game unbeaten stretch, OCB have recorded six clean sheets.

I think, you know, we really shored up the defense. You know, we’ve had some shutouts here in this streak and not giving up as many goals that have come off our own mistakes. So I think that’s been huge for us.

For more on OCB, as they prepare for No. 1 Louisville, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.