NASHVILLE, Tenn. – While there were a pair of lineup changes for Nashville SC since the club’s first meeting with Ottawa Fury FC last month, the thing that may have made the biggest difference in the host’s 2-0 victory before a sellout crowd of 8,694 fans at First Tennessee Park on Friday night was the change of shape NSC brought to the table.

Moving to a 3-5-2 formation compared to the 4-4-2 in the initial meeting at TD Place on July 21, Nashville used its added width to look more dangerous from front to back as it affirmed its status as a strong contender for the USL Cup Playoffs in October.

After shifting to the three-center back formation to good effect against FC Cincinnati a week ago, Head Coach Gary Smith was certainly happy with what he saw on Friday.

“We’re getting better pressure,” said Smith. “We did a very good job of not only disrupting their possession, but on our left-hand side in the first half especially, we had some incredibly good flank play and opportunities to deliver into what we haven’t seen for a long time, which is two forwards. I wanted two forwards on the field, including Lebo as an aggressive 10 to be bright and purposeful, give us more options and hopefully lead to what we’ve seen, which is more opportunities and two goals. I’d love to have seen more, but I’ll settle for that.”

That play down the left side was driven by Taylor Washington, who was credited with three chances created for the contest as he consistently pressed down the flank with the support of Justin Davis sitting in behind. As creative as Washington was, he was also tenacious, winning 8 of 10 duels on the night and recording four tackles and three interceptions. That impact was noticeable elsewhere around the field as Nashville edged out its visitors in duels, aerial duels and interceptions on the night.

“Part of it is that you get some guys in positions that are a little more natural for them,” said NSC midfielder Matt LaGrassa. “I think Taylor Washington has come out of his shell a little bit and that’s because he’s naturally fits the position of a wingback very well.”

When Nashville’s opening goal arrived in the 31st minute, then, it was no surprise that Washington was involved. Winning a header near the halfway line on a clearance by Fury FC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, Washington was able to find Lebo Moloto with a chance to take on Ottawa’s Nana Attakora one-on-one on the left side of he penalty area. The South African found a yard of space to cut a low cross back toward the penalty spot where LaGrassa was waiting to finish off his first goal for the club.

Having scored once in each of his first two seasons in the league, finding the net hasn’t necessarily been the 25-year-old’s forte, but after recent near-misses he wanted to make sure when the next chance arrived it would be taken.

“I had a talk with Mike Jacobs about how I’ve been getting into good spots, but I haven’t been hitting the target or executing the way I wanted to,” LaGrassa said. “I took some extra reps this week in training and focused on hitting the targets and taking a deep breath in those positions and it paid off tonight.”

Nashville is now in sixth place in the USL’s Eastern Conference with a three-point cushion on the now ninth-place Fury FC and a six-point lead on the 10th-place Charlotte Independence. With the third and final regular-season meeting with Louisville City FC up next for the side, though, the aspirations within the club are far higher than simply making the playoffs.

“For me, we’re a top four team,” said NSC defender Liam Doyle. “We’ve shown that and had a couple of bad spells. I think we’ve shown now that we’re solid. The goals are starting to come now and starting to create more and if we keep that hunger we can set our sights on the top four.”