NASHVILLE – With Nashville SC having played on each of the first five Saturday’s of the season, the club is now in a slow-down in its schedule over that sees its clash on Tuesday night against Penn FC (6:30 p.m. ET | Match Center) the only official outing for the side before a trip to face the New York Red Bulls II on Sunday, May 6.

While the idiosyncrasies of the USL schedule aren’t ideal for a side looking to build a weekly rhythm to practices and gamedays in its inaugural season, Head Coach Gary Smith has tried to make the best of things since the club’s 2-1 defeat to Indy Eleven on April 14 brought an end to a three-game undefeated streak for the side.

“It has actually given me a good amount of time to get a group together and look at a couple of areas of our game that certainly need some work, to be a little more comprehensive about the work the guys are doing and almost have a mini-preseason program,” said Smith. “There’s a lot of intense coaching and the players are spending a bit more time on the field and that’s not all bad.”

While not in action itself, Nashville got a positive weekend of results elsewhere around the USL’s Eastern Conference as only the Tampa Bay Rowdies emerged with a win in five games around the conference, keeping NSC in the playoff positions despite being on a bye. Draws have been commonplace early in the season in the East, with eight of the conference’s sides having more draws than victories going into Week 7. 

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Among that group is Penn FC, which picked up a third consecutive draw on Saturday night in its home opener at FNB Field after finishing 1-1 with the Charleston Battery. Penn is one of three sides in the East yet to win a game this season, but despite the short turnaround for their opponents Nashville’s players are taking little for granted as they look for their third win of the season.

“I think that’s in the back of everyone’s mind in the sense of realizing that when they have their games and how they play is a challenge,” said NSC defender Ryan James. “They have two games in a short time and that could be our advantage, but we have to keep it in the back of our mind and use it as our strength. If we see them in the same lineup we can wear them down a bit, but never take it as ‘this will be easy.’”

With another extended spell away from the action after its trip to Pennsylvania, NSC is keen to take care of business and keep itself in good standing relative to the rest of its conference rivals.