Following our third consecutive regular season victory over Huntsville City FC this 2025 season, Chris Nugent answered questions from media.
Nugent was asked about the importance of the victory in the context of a playoff push, the debuts of Luke Husakiwsky and Yuval Cohen and much more.
Here's everything he had to say:
on if there was a looseness the team played with having won last weekend:
"No, I think there was a bit of fortune at times, which hasn't been there the last couple of months. In the games when we didn't win clean, there have been lots of moments where we played well and opportunities to get the result and we didn't get that, and the start of the year we were getting results. That's just part of football. We always talk about taking your chances, whether that's attacking or even big saves; they're all part of it. You expect and hope the guys can make those big plays when needed and we maybe missed out on that at times over that eight or nine-game stretch. It's good to see some of our identity again where we knew we could be resilient and grind it out. I don't necessarily think it was a bit of looseness, I think it's a bit of fortune sometimes. It's a long season and we play against a lot of good teams, so there's times you're going to slip up and not get the result."
on Luke Husakiwsky's impact on his home debut:
"Luke was excellent. We had him in training and came off the bench last week and had a huge impact. We tracked him a little bit over the summer and were familiar with him and some of our contacts had mentioned him. We knew what he could add that to the team, so it was really pleasing to see him come in and have that immediate impact, rather than any rookie nerves. To come in and score a goal off a set-piece was huge, so I'm excited to see Luke when we return from the break."
on completing the season series sweep over Huntsville City:
"Huntsville's a really good team. It's easy to say that when you beat them, but they've got a lot of really good players and have a good understanding of what they want to do. They're difficult to play against and some of their rotations are tough to deal with. It says a lot about us that we've gone up early twice against them and found ways to grind it out and gone down against them and turned the game around. All the teams are tough in this league. It's not easy playing them three times—I wouldn't mind the schedule being simply home-and-away for teams like that! We try and get a result every week. We want to test ourselves against the best teams and players. We saw out there that we can compete and get the result with anyone when we are consistent."
on Yuval Cohen's debut and first start for the club:
"He had an excellent contribution throughout the week. The guys were familiar with him from the last few seasons. To come in tonight and start with a new team and to basically jump on a plane, move cities and start a game five days later was big. He's so young and has such a presence on the field. He's going to continue to grow really quickly in our team, so I'm excited to see him get a few more minutes and a little bit more time in Chattanooga under his belt."
on the defensive performance as a collective:
"We defend the box quite well. I know we've conceded more than we'd like at times, but there's been some really smart defending and guys being aggressive and putting themselves on the line. Sometimes Eldin has to make big saves, but that's what he's here for. I'd like us to get clean sheets where he does a little less, but that's football. You need to use all the guys in your roster and not just the guys on the field. Part of our identity is being resilient, tough and difficult to break down—that's big for us. Whether we do that higher up the field, in the middle of the field or on the edge of our box, that's just part of football. When you look at elite teams they can be successful in their own area."
on using this momentum while having a break in matches until September 12:
"It's a good thing. It's been a long season. The guys are fatigued, so it will be good to get a bit of freshness back. Obviously we've had three good performances back-to-back-to-back. The guys have been training well for months now and it's never been an issue. They're competitive, they work hard and train well. I wish we could've got more results that reflected the quality of their training. We'll use the break in games to freshen up some of the guys, get a little bit of recovery and prepare. We've got two more big games at home and a couple of road trips that can put us in a good place. We know that every point is going to be important, so it will be all about what we can do to get as many points as we can in each of these games."
on the importance of the win in the context of obtraining strong playoff positioning:
"It's a huge. It has created some separation between us and ninth place. It's always tough to guess how this league will go and how results will land, but this result squeezes us up closer with some other teams and pulls us away from some space below. It's not necessarily breathing space, but we want to try and get as high as we can in the league and try and get a home playoff spot, which would be massive for us."
