Ottawa Fury FC came within 10 minutes of capping off its inaugural season with a win but had to settle for a 1-1 draw in the season finale in Fort Lauderdale Saturday night.

Nicki Paterson scored in the 15th minute for Ottawa, the only goal before Aly Hassan scored for the Strikers in the 86th minute with Ottawa playing a man down. Fury midfielder Mauro Eustaquio, filling in for suspended captain Richie Ryan, was shown a red card early in the second half for a hard, late tackle.

Ottawa was content to defend after that and seemed well on their way to closing out the Strikers before the play got away from them in a chippy second half.

Hassan's goal triggered a huge celebration with fans running down to field-level to cheer the goal.

Paterson's goal was a good way for the Scottish midfielder to wrap up what has been a frustrating season for him.

He missed the entire fall season with a knee injury suffered in training and has said he likely came back too quickly to play in a early fall season friendly against legendary Scottish club Rangers FC. Paterson said last week he felt like he had just started to hit his stride again in the last few weeks and will be looking to come out strong next season.

All in all, it was a better effort from a Fury side that hasn't looked very good during the three-game losing skid that preceded Saturday's game.

Fury coach Marc Dos Santos expected a high level of play from his team regardless of its spot on the league table.

"We're trying to be professional," Dos Santos said at halftime.

"We respect the league, we respect the club we're in and if we want to respect Fort Lauderdale, you have to play this game like it was a final for us."

In a game that meant nothing in the standings to Fury FC, it seemed likely Dos Santos would tinker with his starting 11 and give lesser used guys some playing time.

The biggest surprise though, was Dos Santos' decision to drop defender Mason Trafford from the starting lineup for the first time this season.

Trafford had, until Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, played every minute of every game for the Fury in what had become an impressive iron man streak.

While Trafford signed an extension this year to keep him in Ottawa through the 2015 season, the four players making up Fury's starting backline Saturday - O'Brian Woodbine, Ramon Soria, Omar Jarun and Drew Beckie - are not yet under contract, while Beckie hadn't played in a few matches. "

Twitter: @chrishofley