Three wins in a row and seven straight matches with a goal – the third longest such streak in club history. It looks like the momentum has definitely turned in Energy FC’s favor. After a slow start to the 2018 campaign, the team is starting to string results together, and the Greens are creeping into the playoff conversation.

Saturday night’s win over LA Galaxy II wasn’t particularly pretty, but all that matters is getting the three points. Energy FC grinded out the result over Los Dos with a 90th-minute winner from second-half substitute Christian Volesky, after it looked like it wasn’t meant to be their night.

Head Coach Steve Cooke went with a 4-2-3-1 formation again and only made one change to the lineup that beat RGV in week 14: Matt VanOekel, Christian Ibeagha, Justin Chavez, Drew Beckie, Shawn McLaws; Callum Ross (Francis Atuahene, 76’), Philip Rasmussen; Alex Dixon, Jose Barril, Jon Brown (Miguel Gonzalez, 13’); Jaime Siaj (Volesky, 66’). Brown was forced off early and had to be helped off the pitch after colliding with LA goalkeeper Wade Hamilton. His status is uncertain.

Chances in the first half against LA were few and far between, but the Greens will feel hard done by a couple of offside calls that didn’t go their way and looked like they would have resulted in good, goal-scoring opportunities.

The second half was better in terms of offensive output, particularly as the match wore on, but OKC left it late to find the breakthrough. After struggling to break down LA’s defense for most of the match, the Greens earned a corner kick, when Barril found Dixon with a perfectly-weighted pass over the top of the defense. Dixon’s first-time cross nearly reached Gonzalez waiting in the box, but it was headed away at the last second.

On the subsequent corner, Rasmussen, who seems to have completely taken over set piece duty, delivered a perfect ball – something that he’s making a habit of lately. The outswinger was met by the forehead of Volesky and glanced into the far post. This was the third consecutive match Rasmussen has assisted on a corner kick after being the provider for Ibeagha against Portland Timbers 2 and Ross against Rio Grande Valley FC.

While the attack wasn’t firing on all cylinders Saturday night, the defense looked comfortable for the majority of the match, despite being a bit of a makeshift back four. Injuries to Richard Dixon and Kyle Hyland forced Coach Cooke to slot Chavez in at center back again alongside Beckie, move Ibeagha to right back and give McLaws another run out at left back – his third consecutive start.

Los Dos ended the night with 16 shots but 9 of those came from outside the box and only 3 actually made it to VanOekel. The goalkeeper, who earned his third clean sheet of the season, was quick to heap praise on his teammates after the match saying, “The backline has been fantastic. McLaws has been unbelievable coming in and putting great performances together. We keep doing great work with the back four, and more importantly, the ten guys that are in front of me. Everyone is working as hard as they can to get back, wide mids keep dropping back and helping double up things, and when you have that type of work rate from everyone on the field, it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

The Man of the Match, Volesky, who has been battling an ankle injury recently, was happy to be back on the pitch and help the team get the win saying, “It’s my job to score those goals and come up big for the team. We worked hard all week and all game and to reward the team is big time.”

When asked about the momentum turning in OKC’s favor, Volesky recognized that things have started to move in the right direction: “It’s turning because we’re working hard and it’s gonna keep going that way. I’m confident in this group moving forward."

Along with Volesky, Atuahene was another inspired substitution for Coach Cooke on Saturday night. The gaffer, clearly wanting all three points, took off Ross in the 76th minute and replaced him with the dynamic Ghanaian. Atuahene had an immediate impact going forward and caused problems for Los Dos down the right side.

Atuahene has been a catalyst for the OKC attack when he’s been in the lineup. He scored the winner in the opener against Tulsa, and since his return from injury, has helped the Greens win three of the last four matches. The only blemish on his otherwise perfect record with Energy FC is the loss away to Seattle Sounders 2 FC, a match the Greens should have won.

While the performance was by no means an attacking master class, it’s the type of win successful teams need during a long season. After the match, Cooke said, “I think the match was not one of our greatest performances, but I don’t want you to take that like I’m not happy. I’m delighted with the result. I’m delighted the character and resilience the guys showed to play a team that made life very difficult for you. And with a few minutes left, to get a goal from a set piece is very, very gratifying.”

The gaffer also made sure to note that the team isn’t getting ahead of themselves: “This is not us celebrating too hard at this point. This is us saying, ‘where can we go from here?’ Because we’re nowhere near where we need to be. We want to be in the playoff picture. We want to be a team that is trying to win championships and does win championships. For us, the focus has got to be, ‘how can we get better next week and keep pushing on from there?’”

The team will have to push on without a familiar face, as Coady Andrews announced on Sunday that he is retiring from professional football after being with OKC since 2015. Andrews was a fantastic servant to the club and will be remembered fondly for helping anchor the defense during several very successful seasons.

Three wins on the bounce make the Western Conference table look even better than before. Energy FC are now on 16 points, just 7 off the 8th place Colorado Springs Switchbacks. In week 15, the Switchbacks defeated Fresno FC 1-0, Sacramento Republic FC and Saint Louis FC drew 2-2, Reno 1868 FC beat San Antonio FC 0-2, and the Swope Park Rangers won against Las Vegas Lights FC 3-2. All of those fixtures resulted in dropped points for teams right around OKC in the playoff picture.

The Greens are off in Matchweek 16, so we’ll have to sit back and see what happens around the Western Conference. There are several fixtures that could help close the gap on the playoff spots even more, with Colorado Springs at home to 10th place San Antonio being the primary one to keep an eye on. OKC is currently just four points behind SAFC.

With Energy FC being off this week, there will be no forthcoming preview as per usual, but we’ll have one ready to go for OKC’s next test – a pivotal matchup away to San Antonio FC on July 4.