Pieces are in place

With five matches left in the regular season, the Carolina RailHawks are playing well at a crucial time.

The team is coming off back-to-back 3-0 wins at home. The first came Friday against league opponent Crystal Palace Baltimore and the second was Sunday's friendly against Mexican professional team Pumas Morelos.

The RailHawks (10-8-7, 37 points) are fifth in the USSF Division-2 Pro League standings, second behind the Vancouver Whitecaps in the NASL Conference.

Now, coach Martin Rennie hopes to start handing out playing time to a core group that he can stick with the rest of the way.

"I just wanted to make sure I've tried all the different combinations and looked all the different things so that when we go into the final phase of the season we're not still questioning what would be the right choices here or the right choices there," Rennie said.

Carolina has a game in hand as it trails Vancouver (41 points) in the NASL Conference.

The league's top three teams reside in the USL Conference, but winning the NASL Conference delivers an automatic No. 2 seed in the USSF D2 playoffs.

The team has added new players for its playoff push, a common league practice during the regular season's final month.

Tom Heinemann, 23, was brought in after helping the Charleston Battery of the USL-2 win its league championship.

Heinemann wasted no time finding the net with his new team, scoring a goal against Baltimore on Friday.

The team also added defenders Daniel Woolard, formerly of the MLS' Chicago Fire, and Devon McKenney, who played with the RailHawks in 2009 but spent this past year in the USL-2 with Real Maryland.