OTTAWA – Having earned victory – and picked up three away goals – in the first leg of its Canadian Championship Qualifying Round 3 clash with the Canadian Premier League’s HFX Wanderers FC two weeks ago, Ottawa Fury FC is well positioned to return to the tournament’s Semifinals on Wednesday night at TD Place.

But since the club’s victory this past Saturday in USL Championship action, the focus has been on ensuring there is no complacency when it comes to getting the right result and a matchup with Toronto FC next month.

“Everyone has to understand that if we look at this round as one game, we’ve only really played one half,” said Head Coach Nikola Popovic. “And you don’t win anything in life by only winning the first half. We have to play the second half. We have to be very serious, very responsible. We’ll have to be the best version of ourselves, knowing that we have an advantage [with the 3-2 lead] but still having to play the second part of that game.”

Fury FC continued a solid recent run of form with a 4-0 victory against the Swope Park Rangers at TD Place that kept the side in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff positions. The victory moved Ottawa to 32 goals in 19 contests in the league this season, a total that has already surpassed its 31 goals in the 2018 campaign.