Nicholas Amponsah read perfectly the Richmond attacker who stood as a major threat just feet away from goalkeeper Alex Mangels in the 70th minute.
With a quick reaction, Amponsah headed away a shot seemingly destined to cross into the right side of the goal. Adding a clearance in the final seconds of stoppage time Saturday night, the Ghana native helped seal a 1-0 victory for the Chattanooga Red Wolves, who did not lose a match in the month of June.
"We make it a point every time we come out on our home field we won't let a team outplay or defeat us," Amponsah said after Chattanooga improved to 5-0-2 at David Stanton Field on Saturday night. "I will use my neck, head, legs, anything just to get the ball.
"It's my job as a defender to deny any attack. Alex has saved us many times and we have to protect him, too."
Once sitting as low as eighth in the USL League One standings, the Red Wolves have climbed all the way into the third spot with 21 standings points and a 6-4-3 overall record. Next Saturday they will host Lansing, which also has 21 points but is one off Chattanooga in goal differential.
Red Wolves captain Steven Beattie continued his "MVP-caliber" play, in the words of coach Tim Hankinson, as he won a battle in front of the goal against several defenders to send in Sito Seoane's cross in the seventh minute. Ami Pineda set up the attack with a sideline-to-sideline pass to Seoane.
"Steven is definitely playing like perhaps the league's top player," Hankinson said. "If you look at the way he rallies the troops, makes intelligent passes and even how he defends, he is the complete player."
Richmond fell to 3-8-3 after being shut out and outshot 10-6.
While Beattie has scored four of his seven goals this season in the past two games, plenty of other pieces are meshing well for the Red Wolves. They have four wins and a draw in their past five matches.
"Alex has been great in goal, and Nicholas has really played outstanding of late, too, defensively," Hankinson said. "The partnership of Ualefi and Conor (Doyle) in the middle of the field has been strong along with Tony Walls on the right side. Ami and Sito found some magic together tonight again, too."
With a grinding mentality in practice throughout the week, Amponsah believes the recent results reflect the commitment and passion he and his comrades have put into preparation.
"We have kept working hard even when we didn't start the season off great," Amponsah said. "We really have put in hard work. This group can go far if we keep pushing like we have. The fans have also given us a great spark of energy to run and fight."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.