Article content continued

Carolina barely saw the ball, much less threatened to score in the one-sided contest. They did get an opportunity early when the ball fell to midfielder Tiyi Shipalane on a scramble in front. Edmonton goalkeeper Matt VanOekel, however, was able to charge out and make an excellent save. It was the only save VanOekel had to make as the rest of the game was one-way traffic.

Edmonton took 16 shots in the contest, eight that hit the net. Carolina had one shot on target.

Edmonton found their rhythm roughly 20 minutes into the game and it was a steady wave of attack after attack on the Carolina goal. The RailHawks sat back and looked to hit on the counter-attack, but weren’t given many opportunities as Edmonton was patient with their possession.

Photo by Codie McLachlan / Postmedia

“It’s the type of players that we have at the club, where we are showing patience with the ball,” Miller said. “And it’s part of our team talk every match day that we’re patient and we do the right things. If you’re giving the ball back to the opposition it gives them a little bit of a lift. So once we started to manage possession a little bit better, then everything started to go from there.”

Edmonton’s first good opportunity came 25 minutes into the contest after a build up along the wing. The ball fell to Daryl Fordyce in the box, but his shot was blocked in front.

In the second half FC Edmonton started to turn the screw and should have gone up three minutes after the restart, but Albert Watson was unable to direct his header, off a corner, on goal.