Scoreboard watching might lie in the future

The operators of the mammoth video scoreboard at TD Place stadium don’t make a habit of showing out-of-town scores from the United Soccer League.

Saturday night might be a good time to start.

At the exact time that Fury FC is trying to tighten its grasp on the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff position with a home game against Penn FC, its postseason chances will be either hindered or helped at five other USL venues.

Of most interest to Fury FC will be Charleston Battery at New York Red Bulls II, with the Red Bulls (9-79) just a point up on Ottawa (10-11-5) in the standings. Just as important, Nashville SC (9-6-8), tied with Fury FC in points but with three games in hand, will pay a visit to Bethlehem Steel FC, which is in fifth place and four points up on Ottawa after winning 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Other notable matchups include North Carolina at Charleston, Tampa Bay at Cincinnati and Atlanta at Indy Eleven.

By 10 p.m. Saturday, the conference standings could look drastically different. Fury FC can only hope it’s still in a playoff spot by then.

“You can’t take anything for granted in this league,” Fury FC captain Carl Haworth said. “You can’t go into any game taking an opponent lightly.

“At this point in the season, every game is like a final: You lose and you’re out.”

With just seven weeks remaining in the regular season and most teams with 10 games or less, Fury FC hasn’t tried to guess who will beat who.

Not that it hasn’t crossed their minds, though.

“If we were in a different situation of having to rely on other teams to help us, we would be looking,” Haworth said.