When it's said and done, the result is the important thing.
"We did enough to get by," Jays coach Eddie Horn said after Jefferson City blanked Waynesville 3-0 on Monday night at the 179 Soccer Park. "It was not our best performance at all. We'll just try to take the positives from this."
Jefferson City entered the game having lost three of its last four contests. So getting the victory was good, no matter how it happened.
"It's nice to pick up a win," Horn said.
The Jays got on the board four minutes into the contest when Brandon Wiler scored off an assist by Marcus Woodruff. Jefferson City had just one other shot on goal in the first half, which ended 1-0.
"We're in a little bit of a funk," Horn said. "It's almost like we're looking ahead to the playoffs and just want to get the regular season finished. I thought we'd have a little zip to us, but we were pretty flat."
The Tigers nearly tied it off the restart just seconds after Wiler's goal. But Jays keeper Alex Hilke made a strong dive to his left to steer a shot away from the net.
"You don't want to give up those opportunities in the playoffs because those have a really good chance of going in," Horn said.
The Jays could get little going for much of the second half as well.
"They did a nice job of squeezing everything to the center and we never adjusted, we went right to where they were," Horn said.
The Jays picked up a pair of insurance goals in the final 10 minutes. Logan Horn made it 2-0 with eight minutes remaining when his shot deflected off a Tiger defender. Woodruff added the final tally a minute later.
Hilke and Zach Brooks combined for Jefferson City's 12th shutout of the season in goal.
The Jays (18-6) will wrap up the regular season Wednesday at Rockhurst.
In Monday' JV game, Jefferson City blanked Waynesville 5-0. Goals were scored by Skyler Richardson, Travis Blackwood, Yeri Celada, Trent Sigmund and Jastin Magallanes. The Jays JV is now 11-5-1.