Diary From the Road — Day 10

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Yesterday was a light day for the team following Saturday’s historic 2-1 win over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

The team really couldn’t have asked for a better result, the game truly had everything.

The first 10 or 15 minutes was a little scrambley for both sides, which was probably expected since it was the first game of the season. But once the teams settled into the game, FC Edmonton started to take over.

Both Alex Semenets on the left wing and Chris Lemire on the right had several great chances each to open the scoring but Strikers’ keeper Nic Platter came up huge to keep the game scoreless.

Not to be outshined, FCE keeper Rein Baart made a point blank save in the 34th minute and if the Strikers had scored there, you felt like the tides would have turned drastically in Fort Lauderdale’s favour.

The score remained 0-0 at halftime but FC Edmonton was certainly the stronger side in the first 45.

Just three minutes after the break however, the Strikers did open the scoring off the boot of defender Martyn Lancaster.

Despite the goal, FC Edmonton refused to quit and Edmonton’s own Shaun Saiko hit a beautiful ball from about 30 yards out and beat Platter to even the score just seven minutes later.

Then it was Coach Sinkgraven’s turn to make a tactical change. He substituted deep strikers in the 63rd, bringing Daniel Antoniuk on to replace Conrad Smith. And four minutes later, that change paid off.

Antoniuk received a pass from Saiko inside the 18-yard box and fired a shot passed Platter for the go-ahead goal.

Sinkgraven made a second change bringing Eddy Sidra on for Alex Surprenant on the left side of defence as the Strikers stepped up the pressure looking for an equalizer.

FCE made one more change in the 90th minute bringing Sam Lam on for Chris Lemire on the right wing.

Four minutes of nail-biting injury time seemed like it took four hours but in the end, FC Edmonton held on for its first win in its first game in history.

The only negatives were the four yellow cards handed out to Saiko for dissent against the referee and Chris Kooy, Alex Surprenant and Antonio Rago for aggressive tackles.

The cards aside, the team was absolutely jubilant after the win and is already anxious to line up again on Saturday in Atlanta against the Silverbacks.

Line Up:

GK —Rein Baart, D — Alex Surprenant (Eddy Sidra), Paul Hamilton, Dominic Oppong, Antonio Rago, M — Shaun Saiko, Chris Kooy, Kyle Yamada, S — Alex Semenets, Conrad Smith (Daniel Antoniuk), Chris Lemire (Sam Lam)