Midfielder Matt Watson is the second-longest tenured RailHawk, with three full seasons under his belt. His name is near the top of most every category in the club’s record book. After Saturday, he’s now all alone at the top of one category.

Watson became the RailHawks’ all-time assists leader, with 10, when he set up Pablo Campos’ 35-minute goal against Montreal on Saturday night.

It was a clever give-and-go between the two, and it required a cheeky finish from Campos for Watson to separate himself from Daniel Paladini and Kupono Low, with whom he shared the assists record.

To hear Watson describe it, though, he owes an assist to Campos’ shoes.

“As I picked up the ball, I was thinking I would play it out wide,” Watson said. “At the last minute, I saw Pablo’s boots. They’re bright green and I caught them out of the corner of my eye. I slipped him into that gap, he took a good touch, and it looked good.”

Watson always seems to set up a teammate when the RailHawks need it the most. Five of his 10 career assists have been on game-winning goals. And he he set up both goals in the return leg of last fall’s playoff semifinals against Montreal, a 2-0 win that saw the RailHawks through to the finals. He’s also one of four players in club history to record a multi-assist game.

Defending Gerba

One number that sticks out from Saturday’s match that many probably won’t think much of is zero – as in the number of shots Montreal forward Ali Gerba took. Gerba rates among the league’s most lethal scorers. He had nine goals in 13 games last season for the Impact.

But in three games against Carolina, the RailHawks have shut him down. He’s taken just six shots on the RailHawks and scored zero goals.

What’s the secret?

“I’m not going to tell you, but we do have a strategy,” RailHawks coach Martin Rennie said after the match. “There’s things he’s really good at and there’s things we can do to try and stop him from having those opportunities. I feel like Brad Rusin and John Krause did a great job defending him. Gerba’s very dangerous, so it was nice to keep him off the scoresheet.”

Down, not out

It took the RailHawks nearly three and a half seasons to earn their first-ever come-from-behind victory.

Now they seem to be making it a habit.

Since snapping a 46-match winless streak (0-35-11) when conceding the first goal last August, the RailHawks have done surprisingly well when faced with a deficit. They are 3-4-0 in such matches, with the latest comeback win coming Saturday night against Montreal.

The key to the RailHawks’ comebacks appears to be a quick response.

On Aug. 18 against Miami, the RailHawks equalized 22 minutes after going down 1-0 and scored the game-winner three minutes later.

On Sept. 25 against Puerto Rico, the RailHawks equalized after trailing for 26 minutes. They scored the game-winner two minutes later.

On Saturday, the Impact scored in the 11th minute. The RailHawks equalized 10 minutes later and scored the game winner 14 minutes after that.

Etienne Barbara or Matt Watson had a hand in all three. Barbara scored the game winner against Miami and the equalizer against Montreal, and Watson scored the equalizer against Puerto Rico and assisted on the game-winner Saturday.

Etienne on top

Etienne Barbara is already at the top of the RailHawks’ leaderboard for goals (eight) and points (18) in a season.

This week, he finds himself atop the NASL leaderboard for goals. Barbara’s two tallies are tops in the league through two weeks. Last season, his eight goals had him tied for ninth best in the league.

With his goal Saturday night, Barbara became the 13th player in club history to score goals in consecutive games. The longest goal scoring streak in team history is three matches, which was done by Tom Heinemann over the final three matches of the regular season last fall.

New threads

Goalkeeper Brad Knighton opted for an all-navy kit for Saturday’s match. There’s no indication if the new color scheme helped or hindered his performance, but there is a noticeable disparity between his lines from game to game.

In the opener, Knighton went with a neon top, black shorts and black socks. He made seven saves, saw 16 shots and allowed two goals. On Saturday, in the all navy get-up, he made one save, saw nine shots and allowed one goal. He’s 0-1 in neon, 1-0 in navy.

In other clothing-related news, coach Martin Rennie wore a suit for the second straight match on Saturday. In years past, he’s shown a more casual look in the technical area, forgoing a suit and tie for training gear (vastly more comfortable in the heat of the summer). We’ll see if the sharp look holds up as the temperatures rise.

In one final note on clothes, forward Pablo Campos is already in the market for a new jersey. The seam on his collar was torn in a tussle for possession against the Impact.