Eddies take advantage of weary Wanderers
FC Edmonton solved its scoring issues by hosting the HFX Wanderers.
Playing their fifth road contest in 14 days and eighth game in the past 25 days, the Wanderers were running on fumes as they rolled into Clarke Field on Wednesday.
FC Edmonton took advantage of the aptly-named Wanderers from Halifax, N.S., defeating them 2-0 in a game dominated by the home side.
“First thing I’ll say is, congrats to that team in the other lockerroom,” said FC Edmonton head coach Jeff Paulus.
“For those lads to come in here with the schedule they’ve had, it’s been a bit of nightmare for them. I certainly wouldn’t want to go through that schedule with our players.
“They come in here and worked hard for 90 minutes again and that’s a proud group and they have a fantastic manager. Full credit to them, they’ve come in here and put up a fight for 90 minutes.”
Had it not been for some bad luck, poor finishing and a few excellent saves, FC Edmonton would have won by a much wider margin against a team that just wants to go home.
HFX Wanderers started their road trip in Hamilton, went on to Victoria, returned to Ottawa for a Canadian Championship game, travelled to York on Saturday where they lost 6-2, and then made the trip to Edmonton.
They return home to host Valour FC on Monday and then Cavalry FC four days later before getting a 10-day break.
“It’s a tough one and we’ve got another one on Monday, so there’s no real break,” said Wanderers head coach Stephen Hart. “But all said, if you know the situation, we really needed to keep the ball better, pass the ball better.”
Easton Ongaro, making his first professional start, and Tomi Ameobi from the penalty spot scored for FC Edmonton who improved its Fall Competition record to 2-1-2, pulling within two points of leaders Forge FC and Cavalry FC.
Goalkeeper Dylon Powley, getting the start ahead of Connor James, earned the shutout.
With the loss, the Wanderers fall to 1-5 in the Fall Competition, holding sixth spot just ahead of last place Valour FC of Winnipeg.
“I think it (the win) was coming. I think we had a couple of performances where it was close, especially the last one where I thought we got unlucky not to get the win,” Ongaro said. “But (tonight) we were able to put in a performance good enough to get the win.”
Ongaro opened the scoring in the 21st minute, getting to the end of a cross from Jeannot Esua and heading the ball past Wanderers goalkeeper Christian Oxner.
It was the rookie’s second goal in as many games for FC Edmonton. He scored on a header in a
1-1 tie Saturday against Forge FC of Hamilton.
“Just like the other day, it was just another brilliant ball delivered in from out wide,” Ongaro said. “I was just at the right place at the right time and the ball ended up in the back of the net.”
Ongaro came close to scoring again 15 minutes later, nearly finishing off a sequence started by Wanderers defender Peter Schaale heading the ball off his own crossbar. The ball eventually fell to Ongaro off the ensuing scramble, but his shot hit defender Chakib Hocine in the face and stayed out of the net.
Ameobi increased the lead two minutes into the second half, converting a penalty after he was wrestled to the ground by Wanderers defender Chrisnovic N’SA in the penalty area.
“It’s probably the first game in the season where we felt like we’ve been in control from start to finish,” Ameobi said.
Once FC Edmonton was up by two goals, HFX Wanderers never looked as though they would be able to battle back. The Eddies should have increased their lead later in the half but were unable to finish off quality opportunities in front of the net.
Late in the contest FC Edmonton midfielder Randy Edwini-bonsu curled a free kick toward the top corner of the net, but Oxner made an outstanding diving stop.