For the first 20 minutes of Friday's friendly between Fury FC and FC Montreal, it looked like the boys from Ottawa might embarrass their USL Pro opponents.

Credit to Montreal, they hung around in this one and didn't concede another goal, though they didn't have much luck getting anywhere near the Fury goal. But giving up a first-minute score to Fury striker Andrew Wiedeman put Montreal in an early hole from which they didn't get much of a chance to escape.

The 1-0 win at Montreal's Olympic Stadium wasn't a Picasso by Ottawa by any stretch as the club continues along through their pre-season schedule but things are coming together, even with captain Richie Ryan out hurt.

It was a physical 90 minutes with at a half-dozen or so yellow cards dolled out and Richter called it a "strange game" to have a goal so early and none after that.

"When we went into the locker room (at the intermission), we were kind of disappointed," said Richter. "But we came out in the second half (and) I thought it was an entirely different game and we played the way we should have."

Indeed, Montreal came out a bit stronger earlier in the second half and a couple good possessions but by the 55-minute mark Fury was back in control and could have had another goal or two were it not for a few missed opportunities.

It is, after all, still the pre-season and there is some definite rust in parts of Fury's game, with Nicki Paterson, Tommy Heinemann, Paulo Jr. and defender Rafael Alves, who headed a ball just high off a corner kick, all coming up short on their scoring chances.

Wiedeman was able to find the net before Montreal had even touched the ball in the first half, nicely converting a cross from Brazilian forward Oliver into the low far corner.

"It's definitely good for the confidence when you score (early)," said Wiedeman, a former Toronto FC striker who signed with Fury in the off-season.

"We started strong and then I thought we probably sat back a little bit too much in the first half. We tried to manage the game, which we did, they didn't have too many looks on goal, but at the same time we probably could have pressed forward a little more."

Wiedeman, who was replaced by striker Heinemann in the second half, isn't concerned about any remaining rust with two pre-season friendlies left to play.

"You don't want to be peaking right now, you want to get going April 4 (in Carolina)," he said.

While the club is pleased with its undefeated record so far in the pre-season, nobody is getting too caught up with wins and losses.

"The mentality is we want to get through the pre-season undefeated ... but it's also important to worry about the process in doing that," Wiedeman said. "We want to be playing attractive football and working out all the kinks on the field."

Dos Santos was pleased with the overall effort Friday but will expect more as they get closer to the games that count.

"I think the team should have put the game away (early and) it dint happen," said Dos Santos. "But it's OK, we know the work we have to do to progress and move on.

"We know exactly what we want from a game ... It's clear in our heads but now we have to grow in it, we have to get better and better."

Goalkeepers Romuald Peiser and Marcel DeBellis split the clean sheet goal, though neither were very busy.

Fury returns to action March 28 when they visit Syracuse University to take on the Orange.

Twitter: @chrishofley