San Antonio FC aims to get offense going against Oakland Roots SC

With three games left in the regular season, it is getting down to crunch time for San Antonio FC as it aims to lock down a spot in the USL Championship playoffs.

On Saturday, SAFC (9-7-11, 38 points) will try to take a step toward securing a playoff berth when it squares off against Oakland Roots SC (8-9-10, 34 points) at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum at 9 p.m.

The match will be the final road match of the regular season for SAFC, which sits above the playoff line in eighth place in the USL Western Conference table. Oakland is also in a must-win situation as well, as it is still in the hunt for a postseason berth in the Western Conference standings, four points behind SAFC.

SAFC goalkeeper Joey Batrouni said the club knows what is at stake going into the match in Oakland.

"I think we've been more focused than we have been all season," Batrouni said. "I think it's come to the realization and reality has kind of hit in that we need a win and we need those points because Las Vegas and Phoenix are creeping up on us (in the playoff race). The morale has been there, and everybody knows that and I think we're just focused on getting points and however we do that, we do that."

Last week, SAFC fell to Las Vegas Lights SC 1-0 in Las Vegas, marking the third consecutive match San Antonio was shut out. The Lights scored their lone goal of the match in the final minutes of the first half, which came as Manuel Arteaga fired a shot into the net off a deflected save by Batrouni, who was up in the box.

SAFC created nine shot attempts in the second half but could not get a goal for the equalizer.

Defender Akeem O'Connor-Ward said he isn't feeling any more pressure on the defensive end despite SAFC's recent offensive struggles on the pitch.

"I think we've been doing well (defensively) the past couple of games," O'Connor-Ward said. "I think it was just a lapse, an error, which led to a goal (Las Vegas). Joey (Batrouni) made a good save, but we weren't there to follow up. But as a defensive side, I think we're pretty sound."

While SAFC has been solid on the defensive side, O'Connor-Ward said they need to find a way to score goals, which San Antonio hasn't done since a 2-1 loss to Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on Sept. 11.

"We worked on it again this week, going back to fundamentals (defensively)," O'Connor-Ward said. "Nothing crazy I think on our end defensively, just figuring out a way to be more cohesive in the attacking area and more times than not finish chances, whether it be set pieces, run a play. Just figuring out how to put the ball in there."

Injuries have added to SAFC's struggles, as midfielder Jorge Hernandez - one of the club's top scorers - has been out the past two games with an injury and midfielder Nicky Hernandez and forward Andres Paredes had to leave the Las Vegas match with injuries.

SAFC coach Carlos Llamosa said it has been frustrating having to deal with injuries during the final stretch of the season, but that the team will have to move forward with the players they have.

"We're going to miss Nicky, we're going to miss Andres," Llamosa said. "But the other players we have here, they have the quality to step in and do the job. Make sure they recover and hopefully come back for playoffs and concentrate and focus on the guys that we have healthy here."

Oakland, which has won two of its last four matches, is led by forward Peter Wilson, who has 13 goals, making him one of the top four scorers in the league, while forward Wolfgang Prentice has chipped in five goals.

"Wilson is one of the top forwards in this league," Llamosa said. "Our defenders, especially our center backs through the season, they've been good against those types of forwards. They know who they are playing against. It's not the first time they're going to play against them. I know they (Oakland) have a couple of key players but as a team they play really well. So, we have to be engaged and ready to play against anybody on that team."

In their last meeting against the Roots at Toyota Field in August, SAFC lost 1-0, with Oakland scoring the game-winning goal on a penalty kick from Wilson in the 90th minute. The penalty kick was set up when Batrouni was whistled for a yellow card as he pushed Wilson, as both players were going for a loose ball near the goal line.

Batrouni is using the memory from that loss as motivation going into Oakland as SAFC aims for a pivotal win.

"I think I would like to avenge that and hopefully get three points when we go up there, and it also be nice for the team morale with three games left going into the playoffs," Batrouni said. "I think we get this win and it will kind of take a lot of pressure off our shoulders and kind of let us focus a little bit more on the playoffs."