WHO: Charleston Battery, 10-6-10, 40 points, 3rd place Eastern conference

WHAT: Louisville’s second to last USL road game before the PLAYOFFS

WHEN: Saturday, September 12, 2015 7:30 p.m. EDT

WHERE: Blackbaud MUSC Health Stadium, Charleston, South Carolina

WATCH: At Against the Grain! They’ve got some new beers! They’re smoky! And they also have barbecue! And us! What’s not to like? But if you’ve been diagnosed by a licensed psychologist as an agoraphobe, then the stream is here:

WHO, AGAIN? Charleston has had a tough road in the USL since mid-July. In their last eight matches, they’ve won once, drawn three times, and lost four. In that span, they’ve given up ten goals while scoring just seven. You’ll recall in our last meeting, Louisville City put it on the Battery in a 3-1 win that might belie the way the game was played butitwasthreepointswhocares. This game will be their first at home in almost a month when they drew St. Louis 1-1. Surely we can do better than that?

Charleston is not a bad team, and you’d know it watching them play. Unfortunately, it seems like late in the season they’ve not played well and their record obviously reflects that. Some of their results are a little fluky. For example, Charleston out-shot St. Louis 22-3 in their last home match and only managed a 1-1 draw. They out-shot Pittsburgh 15-7 last week and still lost. So it’s not like they’re getting bogged down too badly, they just aren’t finding the net.

Let’s not help them reverse that trend on Saturday. Louisville City has clinched a playoff spot and a home bye in the East, but I’d like to see the Royals pick up a few more points to secure home field for the Championship game, should it come to that. City is up by 3 points on Colorado Springs in the West, and if City wants to be sure they can secure home field against everyone in the league save Rochester, four points in the next two matches would be needed. Charleston is good, but let’s just get all six and be done with it.

UNEDUCATED GAME GUESSES: City wins 2-1. This is probably a bit optimistic, as Charleston is good and hasn’t lost at home once this season. That said, Louisville is almost always a good bet on a full week’s rest, and the New York game probably left a bad taste in their mouth the way it was lost. So I say a City win.

COME ON, CITY!