In the first year under the guidance of coach Colin Miller, FC Edmonton was very competitive.

The Eddies lost just four times in 12 games in the spring season. The fall schedule saw them lose only four more times, in 14 matches.

During the spring, FCE was 1-1-0 (win-tie-loss) against that season’s champions, the Atlanta Silverbacks. They then went undefeated in the fall, 0-2-0, against the first-place New York Cosmos.

The reason the Eddies are not, like the Cosmos and Silverbacks, playing for the Soccer Bowl in Atlanta this weekend is that they won only six times the entire year.

And the reason they won only six times the entire year? Because they scored only 26 times, an average of one per game.

So after concluding the fall schedule and 2013 season fittingly, with a 1-1 draw at the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on Saturday, the Eddies are hard at work building their roster for 2014.

After signing team leaders Albert Watson and Daryl Fordyce to two-year contracts and exercising the options on several other players, the Eddies already have 13 players signed for next season. Meanwhile. six players are leaving as free agents, two have been recalled from loan, while a couple key veterans of are negotiating new deals.

That means at least eight openings on the roster, and when it comes to filling the spots, Miller is thinking offence first, second, and third.

“I’m not stupid, I know exactly where we’re failing … I’m well aware of what we’re after and i know the quality of the guys that we’re after,” said Miller.

“I’m actually quite excited if some of them can come to the club.”

Already the team is on the verge of finalizing contracts with two new attacking players under contract shortly, Miller said, and a number of other intriguing players have expressed interest in joining the club.

Whoever the additions may prove to be, they are going to need to score. All told, the departing players account for about half of the team’s total offensive output in 2013, including Michael Cox and Chris Nurse, who each tallied three times.

While Nurse was initially offered a contract, it was taken away when Miller decided “the club would go in a different direction”. Meanwhile, Miller believed the team had reached an agreement on a new contract with Cox, only to learn the 21-year-old Calgary product has decided to pursue opportunities overseas.

“The door’s closed,” said Miller, who thought Cox would be wiser to have remained in Edmonton and continued to develop his game before trying to crack the saturated European market. “Once somebody leaves this club, the door’s closed, that’s pretty cast in stone.”

The Eddies finished the spring season fifth with a 3-5-4 record. Their 3-7-4 fall record landed them in a tie for sixth.

With FC Edmonton experiencing a positive change in culture and gaining respect around the league, Miller feels the year was a success. He takes pride in how tough the team played, a quality that won’t be sacrificed for the sake of scoring.

“I think the players we will bring in will be entertaining and will be still as difficult to beat — those are the values that i was brought up on and the way I played the game,” said the former captain of the Canadian national team. “I’d kick my granny to win. That’s important to me, winning.

I don’t take draws very lightly, and I’m disappointed that we’re not in the final and I’m quite sure next year this time if we’re in the same situation, we’re third bottom from the league, I won’t be with a job. Nobody needs to tell me that.”

ROSTER BREAKDOWN

With FC Edmonton’s season now officially over, here’s a look at who’s staying and going from the 2013 team:

Coming back

Signed through 2015 – Daryl Fordyce (F), Albert Watson (D),

Signed through 2014 – Hanson Boakai (M), Gagan Dosanjh (M), Eddie Edward (D), Neil Hlavaty (M), Sadi Jalali (F), Lance Laing (D), Massimo Mirabelli (M), Edem Mortotsi (M), Michael Nonni (D), Mallan Roberts (D), John Smits (G)

Saying goodbye

Free agents – Anthony Adur (F), Michael Cox (F), Chris de Guise (D), Norbert Janas (G), Chris Nurse (M), Shaun Saiko (M)

Players on loan – Robert Garrett (M), Corey Hertzog (F)

To be determined

Free agents - Lance Parker (G), David Proctor (D), Antonio Rago (D)

Club option – Wes Knight (M)