Eddies edge Cosmos to keep streak alive
It’s now seven home wins, but it took last-minute goal to secure victory
The winning ways continue at home for FC Edmonton.
Against all odds, Edmonton pulled out a dramatic 2-1 victory against the New York Cosmos on Wednesday at Clarke Stadium, scoring at the death to extend their home winning streak to seven games.
Daryl Fordyce scored two minutes into stoppage time to complete the comeback against the Cosmos, who hit the wall harder than a car at a speedway an hour into the contest and were left desperately trying to hang on.
Nik Ledgerwood also scored for Edmonton, who overcame a terrible first-half performance to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the second.
Juan Arango scored the lone goal for New York, who played in Florida on the weekend and had to make the mid-week trip to Edmonton.
“I cannot tell you what I said at half time, but I can assure you if I had a dollar for every bad word I said, I’d be a very wealthy man at the moment,” said FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller. “There was no character, there was no passion, apart from (goalkeeper) Matt VanOekel who was excellent again. We’re playing against the best team in the league in my opinion, the New York Cosmos are the flagship of our league and that’s twice we’ve turned them over at home.”
In the first 45 minutes, the Cosmos looked very much like the North American Soccer League defending champions and fall season leaders.
Arango scored six minutes in on a defensive breakdown in the Edmonton penalty area.
The Cosmos were able to put together of combination of passes at the top of the penalty area and Arango was allowed to slip through the heart of the Edmonton defence unnoticed.
Striker Yohandry Orozco was able to slip the ball through to Arango, who slotted it past VanOekel to give New York the lead.
The early goal seemed to rattle Edmonton. They had difficulty finding any sort of rhythm in the first half as the Cosmos pressed them up the field.
New York could have scored at least two more had it not been for the play of VanOekel, who made a number of excellent saves in the first half.
“The first half, I don’t think we pressed high enough and we came in at half time and the Gaffer ( boss) certainly let us know,” Fordyce said. “But that shows you the character we have on the team, we work for each other, we work hard every day and the biggest thing is we believe, especially at home, we believe we can beat any team in the league.”
In the second half, Edmonton looked more like the club who missed out on the spring season title by a point and is now in the thick of the fall season race.
They were able to find their passing game as the Cosmos began to tire after a tough travel schedule. Arango, who had been the best player on the field in the first half, walked through most of the second half.
Tomi Ameobi, who came on as a substitute for injured midfielder Sainey Nyassi, had his best game of the season, presenting the Cosmos back line with all kinds of problems.
Ameobi created both goals in the game, finding an extra gear against a tired opponent.
Edmonton tied the game in the 79th minute when Ameobi got behind the back line, took a ball down off his chest and had his shot bounce off the goalpost and right to Ledgerwood for an easy tap in.
“We got a bit of a roasting at half time by Colin and I think it’s what we needed, to be fair, because we just weren’t at the rate we needed to be,” Ameobi said. “If it wasn’t for Matt, we could have been four down in the first half, he’s been brilliant all season, so there’s no surprise he only kept it down to one.”
In injury time, with the Cosmos desperately trying to hold on to the draw, Ameobi broke away again, splitting between two defenders and taking a through ball from Dustin Corea. Ameobi’s shot was stopped by goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer, but the rebound sat invitingly for Fordyce to put away into an empty net.
“That one was for Albert (Watson’s) dad,” Fordyce said. “His dad passed away last week and there was a banner behind the net that said Roy Watson. As soon as the goalie made the save and it fell to me, I knew the big man had sat it on a plate for me and that one was for him to get the points.”