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Ongaro opened the scoring in the 21st minute, getting to the end of a cross from Jeannot Esua and heading the ball past Wanderers goalkeeper Christian Oxner.

It was the rookie’s second goal in as many games for FC Edmonton. He scored on a header in a 1-1 tie Saturday against Forge FC of Hamilton.

“Just like the other day, it was just another brilliant ball delivered in from out wide,” Ongaro said. “I was just at the right place at the right time and the ball ended up in the back of the net.”

Ongaro came close to scoring again 15 minutes later nearly finishing off a sequence started by Wanderers defender Peter Schaale heading the ball off his own crossbar. The ball eventually fell to Ongaro off the ensuing scramble, but his shot hit defender Chakib Hocine in the face and stayed out of the net.

Ameobi increased the lead two minutes into the second half converting a penalty after he was wrestled to the ground by Wanderers defender Chrisnovic N’Sa in the penalty area.

“It’s probably the first game in the season where we felt like we’ve been in control from start to finish,” Ameobi said. “We always knew it was going to be a tricky game because you’re playing a team that is coming off the back of a bad loss and they’ll want to prove a point.

“Hats off to the lads, all week in training we’ve been focused and we went out there and did the business from start to finish.”

Once FC Edmonton were up by two goals, HFX Wanderers never looked as though they would be able to battle back. FC Edmonton should have increased the lead later in the half but were unable to finish off quality opportunities in front of the net.

Late in the contest FC Edmonton midfielder Randy Edwini-Bonsu curled a free kick towards the top corner of the net, but Oxner made an outstanding diving stop.

“I thought we had some good chances and we probably could have scored at least two more,” Paulus said. “But I thought our game plan we executed well again, I thought we really kept them from creating good opportunities against us.”

Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @DerekVanDiest