One of the reasons Bethlehem Steel FC finished short in its bid for a berth in the USL Cup Playoffs in its inaugural season ago was a lack of consistent scoring threats. When your leading scorers are a central midfielder and a fullback, it doesn’t reflect well on the players who were manning your front line in a season that saw the team score 32 goals in 30 regular season games.

But things are looking different this season at Goodman Stadium. Steel FC has won four of its past five games to move into fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and with 18 goals in 12 games the side is converting its chances regularly enough at a 14.5 percent conversion rate.

At the forefront of that attacking boost has been Seku Conneh, who in his second season with the club has already outstripped his 2016 totals for goals, assists and minutes. The team’s leading scorer with seven tallies this season, Conneh is averaging a goal every 165 minutes and has a chance conversion rate of 21.4 percent.

Seku Conneh, Bethlehem Steel FC
2016/17 Seasons

Two of those goals have come from the penalty spot, but the other four from within the penalty area have come through Conneh putting himself in good positions to finish. His two goals against FC Cincinnati in the second game of Steel FC’s season gave a hint of what was to come, with the first goal coming via a jinking run into the penalty area and precise finish, and the second a close-range finish after good work from Santi Moar.

The sharpness with which Conneh strikes the ball might have been his biggest asset this season, though. Conneh’s clean finish in Steel FC’s 3-1 victory against the Harrisburg City Islanders on May 28 was a good example of this, but his one long-range strike this season against Ottawa Fury FC two weeks ago was a tremendous goal that beat a top-level goalkeeper in Callum Irving.

With the players he has around him, led by fellow forward Cory Burke and the midfield duo of James Chambers and Adam Najem, the chances should keep presenting themselves for Conneh. Thus far he looks more than capable of putting them away to help drive Bethlehem over the second half of the regular season.