A guy who spent a big chunk of the game cheering his team while sitting on the bench was the difference maker in Ottawa Fury FC’s 2-2 draw with Minnesota United FC on Saturday at TD Place.

Marcel de Jong, who’s been recovering from a hyper-extended knee for the past three weeks, was a big factor in the goal that tied the NASL game 1-1 in the second half, then tied the game again in extra time to give Fury FC a well-earned result against the second-place Minnesota team.

The second goal came within the three minutes of extra time with Minnesota goalie Sammy Ndjock caught badly out of position. Paulo Junior slid a pass across the goal area to de Jong, who calmly found the net.

“Everybody was all over the place, it was so hectic,” said de Jong. “I thought, ‘I’m just going to go for it.’ It was a good pass from Paulo. It feels like a win, especially when you score in the last minute.”

The Ottawa lads were outplayed through much of the first half when Minnesota took a 1-0 lead on a Christian Ramirez goal. Fury FC finally started to press in the later stages. At the 45-minute mark, Rafael Alves’ free kick was easily handled by Ndjock.

“I think we showed them a bit too much respect in the first half,” said Fury FC coach Paul Dalglish. “Their bench probably cost more (money in salary) than our entire squad. We’re home, we have to make sure we play our way at home.

“We were trying to counterattack too quickly every time we won it, rather than possess the ball — rest with the ball at times. We spoke about that at halftime, it’s not always onto counter, sometimes you have to secure possession. The players — the intensity they showed and the passion they showed — they deserved something from the game. In the second half, we had the better chances. We could have been playing against 10 men the way I saw it — from the challenge on Carl Haworth in the first half.”

Inserting de Jong into the lineup for Idan Vered certainly worked on plenty of levels, giving Fury FC some added spark.

“Idan’s a really good player, but I just felt we had Marcel on the bench,” said Dalglish. “When we switched Carl Haworth to the striker position, he was excellent. He caused some problems and I thought he was brought down when he went 1v1. We wanted to keep him central. We looked at it at halftime and thought Marcel could give us something on that left-hand side — a nice balance with him and Paulo Junior on either side.”

Ottawa’s spirited second half got the 4,317 fans on hand into the game. Shortly after Jonny Steele missed a wide-open net, Ottawa tied it 1-1 on a Minnesota own goal — when de Jong’s attempted pass was deflected into the net by United FC’s Jeb Brovsky.

“I saw Carl (Haworth) going forward and I thought I’d cross it,” said de Jong. “It was a little luck, but I planned it a bit like that.”

Minnesota made it 2-1 on a goal by Ben Speas in the 75th minute.

“Minnesota is a good team,” said Dalglish. “But even when they scored the second goal, I felt it was against the run of play. After we scored, we really had the momentum so it was almost like a sucker punch when they scored. But then we found a way to get the equalizer. The spirit in the dressing room is high.”

“It was a fight,” said Fury FC goalkeeper Romuald Peiser. “Like last week, we showed that people that come off the bench can make a difference. We started off not so well, but now we’re showing we’re a team and we’re getting results. Minnesota was coming off three good results, so this was very important for us.”

tbaines@postmedia.com

Twitter: @TimCBaines