CINCINNATI – After an unscheduled weekend off, FC Cincinnati picked up right where it left off on Saturday night as another raucous crowd of 16,097 saw the club move into third place in the Eastern Conference with a 2-0 victory against the Harrisburg City Islanders.

One-third of the way into the club’s inaugural season, things are definitely playing out as planned at Nippert Stadium.

“I’d say we’re doing very well,” said Coach John Harkes following the win. “We still have a long way to go. We want to still play our own style but at times we need to fight through things and it shows our character. My players know that they got to push it and they do and that’s the beauty of it.”

In a diverse attacking group, it was Andrew Wiedeman who came to the fore on Saturday night as a spectacular driven finish in the 19th minute proved the difference in the contest. Picking up a pass in space from Patrick McMahon in the right channel, Wiedeman’s shot was perfectly placed into the opposite corner of the net for his third goal of the season.

For Harkes, the goal was exactly the type of build-up he’d been hoping to see more of from his side.

“Movement off the ball and inter-changing is something we do in pattern play,” Harkes said. “Wiedeman had an unbelievable strike. It’s something you jump out of your seat for.”

It also made the former U.S. international look a little bit prescient.

“[Harkes] was telling me at the beginning of the game that I was looking very good and that I was going to score one,” Wiedeman said.

While the performance wasn’t a perfect one – goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt needed to be sharp as he made four saves in the first half – it was enough for Cincinnati to continue the positive momentum they have built in the past month. 

With the group coming together alongside the big crowds playing their part to give the side a massive home-field advantage, things are playing out exactly the way many had hoped they would when preseason began.

“We’ve always been confident in this team,” Weideman said. “It was always going to be a process; not something that happened overnight. You don’t have a core group of guys coming back and you add pieces and tinker with it. Everyone’s playing for the first time but you see it start to gel now.”