FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller does not want to make it an issue, but his team has played 270 minutes of soccer this season and have yet to score a goal.

On Saturday, FC Edmonton played their most complete game of the North American Soccer League Spring Season and were still unable to get on the scoreboard in a 1-0 loss at the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

And this was after being awarded a penalty on the last kick of the game.

“We work on finishing all the time in training, we do a lot of cross and finishing all the time,” Miller said. “What I don’t want to do, is make a big deal of it, because all of a sudden it starts to play on people’s minds and people freeze in front of goal. The problem for me would be if we didn’t create any chances at all and we’ve created some very good chances (Saturday) against a very good Tampa Bay team.”

FC Edmonton should have come out of Tampa with at least a draw as Tomi Ameobi was awarded a penalty just before time expired in the contest.

Ameobi, who came on as a substitute with 20 minutes left in the game, attempted to cross the ball into the box and had it hit the arm of Rowdies defender Neill Collins.

Ameobi took the penalty, but had his shot stopped by goalkeeper Matt Pickens, who guessed correctly and dove to his right to make the save.

It was a dramatic end to a contest where FC Edmonton absorbed a lot of pressure, but were still able to create a number of scoring opportunities at the other end.

“Take nothing away from Tampa Bay, they’re a quality team and we managed to break them down and have some terrific opportunities,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, we ended up playing against a very good goalkeeper, who played well and could have arguably been the difference between getting three points (for a win) and not getting any.”

The loss dropped Edmonton to the bottom of the NASL standings, alongside the Ottawa Fury, who they host this upcoming Sunday (2 p.m.) at Clarke Stadium.

Despite the loss, Miller was encouraged by the performance of his team in Tampa Bay. It was a much better outing than the 2-0 loss, at home, to Minnesota United FC last week.

“I really thought (Saturday) was a tremendous performance from the players, I thought the shape, everything, the attitude, the willingness to do the work in difficult conditions away from home,” Miller said. “I thought it was a credit to our club and I think if we can put that type of character and that commitment into games, I think we will win far more than we will lose.”

Tom Heinemann scored the lone goal for Tampa Bay in the contest. The former Fury striker was first to a cross just outside of the six-yard box and powered a header past goaltender Matt VanOekel. The goal was Heinemann’s first with the Rowdies and it came on his only quality opportunity of the game.

Regardless, Miller believes there were a number of positive to build on heading forward. The key for FC Edmonton, however, is not to fall too far behind the pack with four of their first six games of the Spring Season on the road.

“This game against Tampa was a benchmark of where we’re at in terms of commitment,” Miller said. “If we get one or two of our players out due to injury back fairly soon, and one of the two lads that we left back in Edmonton push the group along, then we’ll be in good shape.”

FC Edmonton is hoping to get defender Adam Eckersley back from injury soon, which will be a boost to their back line.

With a strong core of players back this season, Miller is confident his team will turn things around in the coming weeks.

“The Eddies will be fine this season, I don’t have any doubts about that at all,” he said. “I’m disappointed that out of the nine points, we only have one point so far. I thought (Saturday) we deserved at least a draw.”

Dvandiest@postmedia.com

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