EDINBURG, Texas – Having already squared off with OKC Energy FC once this season, Rio Grande Valley FC Head Coach Junior Gonzalez had a clear idea of how he wanted his attacking pieces to approach Saturday night’s clash.

Less than 10 minutes in, Eric Bird executed the plan to perfection, latching onto a through-ball by Joe Holland to beat the Energy FC back line before gliding past OKC goalkeeper Cody Laurendi and tucking his finish into an open net. The goal paved the way for a 3-0 victory in front of 7,820 fans at H-E-B Park, the Toros’ second against their Oklahoma rivals this season.

“Eric naturally wants to run, and run in behind,” said Gonzalez. “[Ruben] Luna is more of a post-up forward that receives it, and he’s very good in the box. Those are two different characteristics of forwards. In this case, the whole topic from the week was to try to get in behind and unbalance. We do that every week, we work on that. But I think today, we could see that we got in behind quite a bit and we were very creative in the attacking third. You could tell that we had an idea of how we wanted to approach the game.” 

RELATED: Holland, Toros Topple Energy FC

The approach proved fruitful for the Toros’ attack throughout, as the side recorded six of its nine total shots from within the Energy FC penalty area. While RGVFC needed a big save from Calle Brown to deny OKC Miguel Gonzalez a spectacular equalizer in the 25th minute, by halftime the hosts had driven home their advantage with Joe Holland’s first professional goal. Holland’s volleyed finish buried low in the left corner seven minutes before the break showed the confidence the rookie had played with since setting up Bird’s opener.

“The first decent pass I played, Eric took it on the halfway line and finished fantastically,” said Holland. “It always gives you confidence when you get an assist early in the game. So as soon as that happened, I felt I’ve got my assist. I want to keep playing for the team and see if I can get us a goal now.”

Jose Escalante added a third midway through the second half, finishing calmly after a defensive mistake allowed him space to walk in and finish low past Laurendi. After having the side’s two-game winning streak snapped a week prior against Tulsa Roughnecks FC, Bird was pleased the side responded the way it had.

“We’re a hungry group of guys,” said Bird. “We know we have a target on our back from last year. We want to take this performance. We see this performance as something to build off. I told you last week it’s all about not getting too high and not getting too low as wins and losses come in the season. Just taking it in stride and maintaining that hunger to always want to get a result for every single game.”