As NYRB II get set to face Toronto FC II for the last time, due to Toronto joining USL D3 in 2019, New York enter Thursday’s match in need of a good home performance as they look to solidify their place in the Eastern Conference standings with six matches remaining.
“Yeah, an important game for us for sure,” NYRB II head coach John Wolyniec said. “Two home games left, we’ve been really good at home so we got to take advantage and get those points at home while we can.”
Despite possessing the best home mark in the East at 10-3-2, Wolyniec is aware that his team’s home form has elevated NYRB II to the edge of a fourth-straight playoff berth but is looking forward to the road ahead following Thursday’s match.
“We then have a stretch where there’s some tough road games so it becomes a really important game for us and hopefully we continue our home form and go after the game in the right way.”
TFC II sit at the bottom of the conference standings but their last road game, their only road win of the season, came at defending champions Louisville City in a 4-1 rout.
“They’ve (TFC II) showed well against a couple teams now,” Wolyniec said. “Especially Louisville that they can still be dangerous and you know with an MLS II team, you never know, exactly what players they’ll bring, they have a wide range to choose from so we’re just going to have to worry about ourselves and be ready to put our best performance out and make sure that we take care of the home games as we have in the past.”
Continuing to limit chances and putting the game on their terms is the formula needed to come away with three points at home for the 11th time.
“As much as we want to play fast and as much as we want to create chances and be aggressive going forward,” Wolyniec said. “At the same time, we value not giving up chances and not being easy to score against so we’ve taken steps, some steps backwards but I think we’re in a good place and I think we’ll see the backline start to solidify as the year comes to an end.”
