SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After heroics by Carlos Rodriguez in the club's previous outing, Sacramento Republic FC Head Coach was looking for another player to step up as his side sat level with the LA Galaxy II at halftime on Saturday night at Papa Murphy’s Park.

In recent addition Villyan Bijev, Buckle found his man.

“One thing that stuck with me was that at halftime, when we had them 1-1, the gaffer said, ‘whoever scores this game-winning goal right now, the crowd is going to go crazy. You know these guys support you and they are going to go crazy,’” said Bijev. “That stuck with me, I felt all of the excitement in the stadium and I am happy to net the game-winner because three points are extremely important for us.”

Bijev’s precise finish to the bottom-right corner in the 61st minute earned the cheers of a sellout crowd of 11,569, and a second consecutive victory for Republic FC as it took a 2-1 win against its Southern California rivals to move the side into fifth place in the USL Western Conference.

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The goal was Bijev’s second in as many games for Republic FC since his arrival on loan from the Portland Timbers 2 on Sept. 1, with the attacking midfielder having notched the equalizer in Sacramento’s comeback victory against Rio Grande Valley FC last Saturday night.

The hosts had to rally again against Los Dos, who took the lead after just 10 seconds on a stunning finish by Ethan Zubak as the No. 3 selection in this year’s USL 20 Under 20 sent home a looping volley after winning a header against Chris Christian and seeing the ball fall kindly to set up the fastest goal in USL history.

Another newcomer to Republic FC’s squad provided the answer to the early deficit, though, as Luis Espino flicked home a header on his debut for the club from a cross by Sammy Ochoa to even things just past the hour-mark. The early goal aside, Sacramento controlled much of the game as Zubak’s goal registered as the only shot on target for Los Dos.

“We kept the ball well, we moved the ball and started to open them up and the goals came for us,” said Buckle. “I thought there could have been more than to for us really in the end, but certainly bringing in Luis into the team was a big decision. To leave [Trevin Caesar] and [Matt] Wiesenfarth, who has been ill, out was hard, but I thought we needed that type of player to link and he showed what he can do. We looked dangerous and we deserved to win.”

After suffering a frustrating season with T2 that had seen Bijev scored seven goals with little reward for the last-place club in the Western Conference, the 2016 All-League First Team selection seems to have quickly found his place in the Republic FC lineup. With the side now swinging back into form, three upcoming home games against OKC Energy FC, Real Monarchs SLC and Phoenix Rising FC could be a guide as to how far this side can go in the postseason.

“We are in the right place, we are right in the playoff hunt,” said Buckle. “We showed great character tonight, to come back when you fall behind shows character and we have that in the team. We have will and determination in the team and you need that in this league.”