Ottawa Fury FC’s hope to climb back into the North American Soccer League playoff picture was all but extinguished with a last-minute loss to Minnesota FC Sunday afternoon.

In a story that’s become all too familiar for Fury in its inaugural season, Ottawa dominated stretches of the home contest at TD Place, scoring first and taking the possession game to league-leading Minnesota.

But a goal in the 88th minute off a speedy Minnesota counter — ending with Christian Ramirez beating Ottawa keeper Romuald Peiser sent the 5,093 fans home in stunned silence.

Once again, Fury coach Marc Dos Santos was left listing the positives of his team’s games, though each point was followed with a “but.”

As for his team’s playoff hopes, especially considering the win by Carolina earlier in the weekend, Dos Santos was blunt.

“It’s going to take a miracle,” he said, while acknowledging a top-four finish was mathematically possible, though unlikely.

With six games left in the season, Fury now sits 11 points behind Carolina for fourth spot on the overall table.

The winning goal, which happened with Ottawa playing for the win with extra bodies up front, allowed Minnesota to burn Fury with its speed, something the home side was well-aware of.

“It’s a lack of focus,” Dos Santos said of the winning play.

Dos Santos, who doesn’t seem to be surprised by much, seemed legitimately shocked his players allowed this one to slip away.

“We had so many good moments in the game,” he said. “I said (on the bench) there’s no way we’re not winning this game.

“We’re showing we belong here but we need a little bit more to be up with the best teams in the league.”

While Fury conceded goals to Miguel Ibarra (20th minute) and Daniel Mendes (23rd) minute, in addition to the winner, Ottawa had markers from Tommy Heinemann (on a first-half penalty kick) and Richie Ryan.

Ryan’s goal will be a “goal of the year” candidate as the captain curled a perfect free kick from the top of the Minnesota box into the top corner.

Ryan, a talented defensive midfielder, took little joy in his first-ever goal with Fury following the loss.

“It was a nice goal but the good feeling lasted about 20 minutes,” Ryan said.

The captain agreed with Dos Santos’ assessment that the team lost focus late in this one.

“It’s happened too many times this season and you’d like to hope we’ve learned from our mistakes but today we’ve shown that we haven’t learned quick,” said Ryan, whose Fury side also conceded a goal at the death to lose to Minnesota during the spring season at Carleton University.

“It’s a lousy feeling but we can’t blame anybody but ourselves,” he said.

The captain said he and his teammates need to “manage the game” better.

“I think 2-2 at home to the top team in the league is a good result,” he said.

Fury has little time to shake Sunday’s loss off as Ottawa hosts the Atlanta Silverbacks in a rare Wednesday evening match at TD Place. Ottawa will then travel to San Antonio to face the Scorpions next weekend, with Ottawa needing to essentially run the table if it has any hope of making a playoff run.

Ryan said only having two training sessions between Sunday and Wednesday’s games is fine by him.

“I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “We don’t have time to dwell on this performance. We come in tomorrow and dust ourselves off and prepare for Wednesday.”​

Twitter: @chrishofley