The boys in red, black and white lost a crucial cup clash against their Canadian rivals.

But we're not talking about the Senators.

FC Edmonton won the first leg of the preliminary round of the Amway Canadian Championship by a 3-1 scoreline and moved one step closer to playing MLS powerhouse Vancouver Whitecaps FC for the second straight season.

The gut-punch of a goal came in the 88th minute after an errant pass from midfielder Julian de Guzman, which was intended for defender Rafael Alves, fell right to Eddies midfielder Lance Laing who gave the visitors the come from behind victory.

The real kicker came a couple minutes later as Laing found striker Tomi Ameobi who put the Eddies up late and essentially sealed the cup-tie for the visitors.

"We lost our composure. We suffered after their tying goal and mentally it was difficult to adjust after," said Fury head coach Marc Dos Santos. "It's going to be very tough to turn it around in Edmonton."

Dos Santos was very candid after the game when asked about his thoughts on the second half collapse.

"I'm an honest guy but I doubt some people's honesty ..if they want to give the ticket to FC Edmonton, just give them the ticket."

Despite the collapse, Fury once again started the match extremely well.

In the first minute, a botched header by former Bolton product Johann Smith fell right to Oliver in the box as the Brazilian hammered the ball home.

It was the fastest goal in Fury's history and second fastest goal in the tournament's history.

Two minutes later, the young Oliver fluttered a header just above Eddies goalkeeper Matt VanOekel and more importantly, the bar.

He ended up being a handful for FC Edmonton all night long.

But that was later cancelled out as Edmonton forward Daryl Fordyce scored in the 83rd minute after Fury keeper Romuald Peiser couldn't handle the initial rebound.

All Fordyce had to do was tap in the loose ball.

"It's really tough. That's soccer ... If you don't kill, they will kill you and that's what happened today," said Peiser after the game. "We can't concede three goals in 10 minutes. It cannot happen."

A meagre 2,402 showed up for the midweek fixture thanks to another all-Canadian cup match up 20 minutes west of TD Place.

The rain held off but it was still a mucky contest between the Canadian rivals in the battle for Canadian soccer supremacy.

Last season, after going scoreless in Ottawa for the first leg, the Eddies took care of Fury with ease winning 3-1 in Edmonton over the two legs.

They escaped a sticky situation after rightback Ryan Richter was called for a handball in the box in the 62nd minute, resulting in a penalty kick.

Eddies midfielder Lance Laing stepped up but Peiser read it the whole way, parrying the penalty to the right side of the box.

Minutes later, Peiser made a diving save off a Laing free kick; seconds later Eddies middy Sadi Jalali sent the ball all the way through the box but no Eddie could tap it home.

Peiser, who wore the captain's armband, continued to show why he's earned the title of the NASL's best clock-killer.

The veteran Frenchman, much to the chagrin of Eddies head coach Colin Miller, did his best to milk every last second off the clock throughout the match.

"You can see there's a healthy rivalry between the two clubs and long may that continue," said Miller. "I love to see the competition between two NASL clubs having a bash at each other. I'm all about the bash."

Fury leftback Brandon Poltronieri started for the second straight game after a strong 90 minutes against Minnesota.

And it's clear he's beginning to gel with Paulo Jr. on the left side of the pitch.

Seven minutes in, Poltronieri came up worse for wear as he went in hard to break up a through ball to Edmonton's Sainey Nyassi.

Nyassi, the speedy, former MLS midfielder, made a few strong runs into the box but never challenged Fury's back four.

Twitter: @Keaton_Robbins