Chattanooga Football Club head coach Bill Elliott wasn't on hand to witness the offensive onslaught his team delivered to Birmingham on Tuesday, so the players decided to give him a similar display Saturday night.
On his birthday, no less.
Coming off a 5-0 victory over the Hammers, Chattanooga FC netted three goals in the first 51 minutes against first-year club FC Carolina United and won 5-0 again in front of 4,638 at Finley Stadium.
The 10 goals scored in the last two matches are the most since the 2014 team had 11 in two games and the third-most scored in back-to-back matches in CFC history, led by the 2009 team that scored 19 goals in its first two ever. Not bad for a team that had been having problems finishing just a week ago.
"We've been practicing hard, and we knew the goals were going to come. It was just a matter of time," said forward Jose Ferraz, who scored Saturday's second goal. "I think we're very sharp, we're looking strong. We have so much depth; we're banging goals and looking forward to following games, because there are more goals to come."
CFC improved to 4-0-4 in National Premier Soccer League Southeast Conference play, maintaining at least a tie for first place in the West Division with New Orleans, which was playing Memphis City at press time. The Chattanooga club has one more match in its five-game homestand - Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Memphis City - before visiting Inter Nashville on Saturday.
Then comes a Fourth of July home match against the Georgia Revolution.
CFC dominated possession throughout Saturday's match, prohibiting the visitors from any legitimate shots on goal. CFC jumped on the board in the 19th minute, when a Leo De Smedt corner kick found the head of Jon Finlay, who punched it to Felipe Antonio, who followed a shot off the crossbar with a touch into the net. Ferraz added his goal six minutes later on an assist by John Carrier.
Finlay then added a goal on a header from a De Smedt corner in the second half, and Luke Winter and Samuel Goni added goals late.
"You can see we're connecting better and playing more creative," Elliott said. "The chances we're creating are better chances; we were creating chances early on, but they were half-chances, they weren't quality chances. Instead you're seeing more and more, as we connect more, we're creating better chances, which is turning into goals."
The defense continued its season-long dominant play, with Paulo Pita earning the shutout in goal.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.