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Photo by Jana Chytilova / Ottawa Citizen

It was not that the Donatelli effort was a poor one, it was just that Saunders made a fine save. In fact, without Saunders the Scorpions would have been at least two goals behind by then. Carl Haworth had two efforts well saved and Mason Trafford saw an excellent header nudged wide by Saunders. In fact, the Fury had 18 shots in the game, nine of them on target.

But, after the Saunders save, time was again winding down and another dismal result was in sight until, with 89 minutes on the clock, Donatelli picked up a ball in midfield and sent an exquisite chip over the defence for a charging Tom Heinemann to run onto and slip confidently past the advancing Saunders. What a moment it was for Heinemann, whose confidence had been at rock bottom in recent weeks as he struggled to find his scoring touch.

Photo by Jana Chytilova / Ottawa Citizen

Photo by Jana Chytilova / Ottawa Citizen

Truth be told, Fury FC produced their best 90 minutes of soccer in the Fall season against the team that lies second in the NASL standings, and they deserved better than a 1-1 tie. Dos Santos certainly thought so: “We were the better team and we deserved the three points. We were extremely organized and their only options were long, which is what we wanted.”

He was also quick to point out that congratulations might be in order, but this was only one game for a club that remains at the foot of the table along with fellow expansion club Indy Eleven. However, there were encouraging signs from a game that must have had the 4,277 fans on the edge of their seats.