LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., a fall Friday night under the lights has a very specific meaning to Louisville City FC defender Sean Reynolds.

“Where I’m from, Friday night lights means high school football and things like that,” said Reynolds. “For us it’s a bit different.”

City will host its first Friday night game at Slugger Field in the club’s three-year history when Bethlehem Steel FC comes to visit this weekend, part of big few days of sports in the city that also includes Saturday night’s marquee college football matchup between No. 14 Louisville and No. 3 Clemson at Cardinal Stadium.

While Friday night soccer might be new to Louisville, it certainly has resonance with City Head Coach James O’Connor. Growing up in the days when the BBC’s Match of the Day would bring live action into English homes on Friday nights, O’Connor has good memories of those games under the lights.

“As a player, I used to enjoy Friday night games. I really did,” O’Connor said. “You can go back to my time in England. There used to be live games on a Friday night. I used to love it.”

For Louisville there’s also the incentive of a playoff place to be clinched, and potentially more. Sitting six points back of Western Conference-leader Real Monarchs SLC going into this weekend with a game in hand, City could put added pressure on the Monarchs’ clash this Saturday night at Phoenix Rising FC.

To achieve that, though, City will need to get past a Steel FC side that has its own designs on the postseason. While Louisville took a 3-1 victory when the teams met at Goodman Stadium on August 20, O’Connor was impressed by what he saw from the opposition.

“A lot of pace,” said O’Connor. “You’ve got [Cory] Burke up front, you’ve got [Chris] Nanco, [Marcus] Epps, you’ve got [Santi] Moar, you’ve got multiple players that are very capable, a good attacking team. They’ve played some lovely football at times this year in the games we’ve watched and I thought they played very well against us the last time as well.”

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Countering that speed will be key for Louisville to reel off another home victory, with the club’s defensive pressure having helped lay the foundation for City’s recent run of five wins in the past six games. That pressure has allowed Louisville to break into attack quickly, with the side leading the USL with 660 touches in the opposition penalty area this season.

“Our defense starts with our front guys, and with the way James likes us to press, the guys in front of the back line have done a great job of getting across, putting pressure where they need to,” said Reynolds. “It makes our job easier, and I think from the start of the season to now we’ve done a better job of getting guys in places and been more efficient in getting there.”

With multiple goals in seven of the club’s last 10 outings, the attack that had some early-season struggles is now among the best in the league as well, sitting fourth with 48 goals at an average of almost two goals per game.

That’s enough to bring a smile to even a perfectionist like O’Connor’s face.

“Things have really been clicking for the teams, especially our front players,” said Reynolds. “They’re really starting to get their movements down and things like that. James has been pretty happy with us, not too happy, but he’s been pretty content with how things are looking so far going into the game.”