Head coach Colin Miller had a view from the top for roughly two hours Sunday after FC Edmonton defeated the Carolina RailHawks.

The 1-0 win on a cold, wet, miserable day at Clarke Stadium, which kept many fans away, was not exactly the greatest game no one’s ever seen. Yet, Edmonton did enough to win the contest and temporarily took over top spot in the North American Soccer League Spring Season standings before the New York Cosmos regained it with a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rowdies later in the day.

“It’s nice, there has been a process of what we’ve done at the club and it’s not about Colin Miller, it’s what we’re all doing,” Miller said. “What we’re trying to do is make this the best (soccer) franchise the city has ever had. The people that came out there (Sunday), they deserve a medal. I’m so proud of the fans that came out, they never stopped signing and chanting. I’m delighted with them. Hopefully, they bring thousands of their friends back when the weather and Mother Nature finally shines on us.”

According to the club, tickets sales leading up to the game against Carolina had been the highest so far this season, outselling last week’s game against the New York Cosmos, which drew over 2,600 fans.

The miserable weather put a damper on attendance and affected the quality of play, but FC Edmonton was still able to grind out a win, scoring the only goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 79th minute.

The win extended Edmonton’s NASL undefeated streak to five games, four of which they’ve won. The game against Carolina was also FC Edmonton’s sixth in a 19-day span, including two games in the Amway Canadian Championship.

“Good teams find ways to win,” Miller said. “Every game wasn’t a walk in the park for (English Premier League champions) Leicester City this year, but they found ways to win. I think last year and maybe in previous seasons, we would have found a way to throw that game away by either drawing or getting beat. This particular group of players, by commitment to the cause, tells me that we maybe turned a little bit of a corner here at FC Edmonton, without getting carried away. We’ve done nothing yet; we’ll continue to put in this sort of effort and commitment in, and touch wood, it’s enough to get us there at the end.”

Edmonton’s chances of winning the NASL Spring Season title with two games to go are a lot better than Leicester City’s odds of winning the English title at the beginning of the season.

A win on the road against Miami FC next Saturday and another, at home, over the Fort Lauderdale Strikers the following week could be enough to take the title, depending on results elsewhere.

A Spring Season championship would give FC Edmonton an automatic berth into the NASL playoffs following the Fall Season. A playoff berth would be a huge accomplishment for Miller, who remodeled the entire club after taking over three seasons ago.

“It’s been a huge team effort, it’s been a long journey and there still will be changes made; it’s an on-going process,” Miller said. “But I genuinely believe we have one of best franchises in the NASL from top to bottom, and I don’t say that flippantly, I don’t just throw that comment out there.

“We’re well respected within the league of being a well-run club. We have unbelievable ownership with Tom and Dave Fath and they deserve all the credit.”

Tom and Dave Fath have invested an enormous amount of money in the club to make them viable in the ever-growing NASL. They had faith in Miller when the team struggled early on and are now being rewarded with an excellent on-field product.

“Everybody is buying into how I want to the team to play, which is with total commitment,” Miller said. “Over the years we’ve brought in a better quality of player that is still willing to make that commitment. It’s different if you bring in a better quality player, if that player is not interested in working. If they’re not interested in defending and putting in all the work, then we don’t have that performance (Sunday). That performance there comes from character after however many games this last little spell. That doesn’t come from being all fluffy from the top down to the players. That comes from putting the demands that I put on them, that’s what we’re all about at the club.”

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