NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It might not have been enough to have him take home the club’s fan-voted Man of the Match award – which went to Tucker Hume after his own stellar two-goal performance – but Nashville SC’s Michael Reed accomplished one of the rarer individual feats on Tuesday night as he became only the fourth player this season to record three assists in one game.

Assigned set piece duties for much of the evening, Reed more than doubled his assists total for the season in the 4-0 victory against the Richmond Kickers that played out in front of a crowd of 8,561 fans at First Tennessee Park and drew plaudits from his teammates for what was a standout display of dead ball delivery.

“We said at halftime, we were telling Reed that his service was fantastic, and we just needed to get on the end of it,” said NSC defender Bradley Bourgeois. “Really, we have been working on it in practice I can tell you that.”

Bourgeois’ header three minutes into the second half on Reed’s second assist of the night was his first goal of the season and cemented Nashville’s control on the game after Hume’s first three minutes before the break had given the hosts a bump in confidence that carried through into a strong second-half display.

Having logged only 26 key passes in the previous 21 appearances this season, though, it was Reed’s influence that proved key. In addition to being only the fourth player to record a three-assist game this season, Reed is only the 13th to do so since the start of the 2014 USL season, making it a far rarer individual feat than a hat trick, of which the USL has seen 13 already this season and 52 since the start of the 2014 season.

USL Regular Season Three-Assist Games (2014-Present)

With Tuesday night’s victory moving Nashville into the playoff positions in the Eastern Conference ahead of its trip to face the Charlotte Independence, the side is now looking to kick on and potentially challenge for a top-four finish as it enters a busy final stretch of the season. With the club’s set piece-play having kick-started against the Kickers, NSC Head Coach Gary Smith is hoping his side can gain from the payoff Tuesday night provided.

“I hope it’s given the lads a bit of confidence,” said Smith. “We certainly looked a hell of a lot more comfortable on the ball, switching play and working them over. The only thing that can happen is that you get a little bit casual 4-0 up. There were one or two moments that they had on a breakaway, but to be perfectly honest, there was a lot of good work done in the early stages of that second period and it was enough to obviously see us through to a good win.”