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Increased production might be easier if Fury FC players aren’t as doggone tired as they have been lately. Saturday marked the end of a stretch of seven matches in 25 days because of the relative insanity of mixing regular-season play with four Amway Canadian Championship matches against NASL counterpart FC Edmonton and Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps, plus travel to and from Vancouver and Tampa, Fla.

Injuries became such a problem that Fury FC had to sign 18-year-old academy squad members Dario Conte and Adam Malekos to amateur contracts so they could dress as the third and fourth available substitutes for Saturday’s match against Rayo OKC, and Conte even made his NASL debut as a replacement for captain Julian de Guzman in the second half.

De Guzman was making his first start for Fury FC since April 30 because of a thigh injury and, more recently, his own call-up for international duty with the Canadian men’s squad.

He compared the struggles of this spring season to last year’s, when Marc dos Santos was Fury FC’s head coach, and expressed a belief that the club could repeat the turnaround that led to the 2015 fall-season title and, eventually, an appearance in the Soccer Bowl NASL championship final against the victorious New York Cosmos.

“We didn’t score many goals and we were kind of all over the place (in the spring season),” de Guzman said, “but we were still able to grow as a team. I think it was a battle for us as far as learning from the (new) philosophy, but also being able to come out with a fit side.