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Ottawa Fury FC battled high temperatures, a rough-and-tumble opponent and more than half an hour playing with 10 men to grab a point in their NASL Fall season opener in Edmonton Sunday.

Twice in the dying moments of the game, Edmonton saw shots crash off the woodwork with goalkeeper Devala Gorrick beaten as the rapidly tiring Fury hung on for a 0-0 draw.

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There was no inkling of what was to come when the game began – except perhaps for the massive Commonwealth Stadium dwarfing a crowd of maybe 2,000 tucked almost invisably into the 60,000 seat facility.

Edmonton FC had been forced to play in the stadium because resurfacing of their regular ground was not completed. Couple that with kick off coming some 15 minutes after the World Cup final ended and it is easy to understand why it was an unhappy sight that seriously lacked atmosphere.

Towards the end of the Spring season, coach Marc Dos Santos had hinted strongly that he was not pleased with the strength of his defence. That was why he picked up a fourth goalkeeper from Portugal’s Primeria Liga and a new central defender from Toronto FC.