— The delight of late-season soccer was on full display Wednesday evening at WakeMed Soccer Park. Both the Carolina RailHawks and FC Edmonton faced off in Cary needing a win to realistically remain in the chase for the fourth and final NASL playoff berth. A draw did neither team any good—scheduling and circumstances required each team to go for three points.

The result was an exciting, end-to-end contest, capped by a late goal from Nacho Novo to give the RailHawks a 2-1 win over the Eddies. The win pushes Carolina into seventh position in the NASL combined table, but only three points behind the fourth-place Tampa Bay Rowdies and two behind both Edmonton and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

RailHawks manager Colin Clarke kept the same starting XI as last Saturday’s win over the Jacksonville Armada, including the sophomore appearances from Daniel Jackson, Steven Miller and a superb Alex Perez, That left Novo—Carolina’s leading scorer—on the bench.

“To be honest, [Novo] was disappointed he wasn’t starting the game,” Clarke admitted. “We sat and talked about the reasons, and he comes on and scores the winning goal. That’s what he’s all about—he’s a goa lscorer.”

Their talons flashing, it took the RailHawks just 10 minutes to find the back of the net. An astute throw-in from Austin da Luz found Nazmi Albadawi behind the Eddies’ line inside the penalty box. Albadawi maneuvered around defender Kareem Moses before firing a shot past Montons keeper Matt VanOekel for a 1-0 lead. The goal is Albadawi’s sixth this season to go with three assists.

However, Albadawi came down wrong on his right foot—Clarke fears an injury to his fifth metatarsal bone, pending further tests tomorrow. Albadawi’s departure from the match appeared to neuter the Carolina attacking prowess.

Edmonton was unable to capitalize until first-half added time, when Thiago de Freitas was tripped by Daniel Scott while driving on goal. Video replay strongly suggested that de Freitas was outside the area, but referee Marcos DeOliveira whistled a penalty. RailHawks goalkeeper Akira Fitzgerald guessed wrong on Daryl Fordyce’s PK, and the match was knotted at 1-1 entering intermission.

Carolina’s fortunes finally turned in the 62nd minute when Edmonton captain Albert Watson took Tiyi Shipalane down in nearly the same spot as de Freitas’ first-half topple. While DeOliveira only awarded the RailHawks a free kick just outside the area, he sent off Watson with his second booking, putting the visitors down a man for the duration.

The RailHawks controlled possession from that point. After a seemingly sure shot clanged off the crossbar in the 77th minute, Novo finally found Carolina’s go-ahead goal in the 83rd minute. A perfectly weighted through ball from da Luz found an onsides and open Novo. The Spaniard striker topped the ball past VanOekel for the 2-1 game-winner, Novo’s 10th score this season.

“It was absolutely a great pass from da Luz,” Novo said. “It’s not the first time he made a good pass like that … I took a touch, opened up and put it across the goal.”

FC Edmonton (9-7-12, 34 pts.) has only two games left in their regular season, a home-and-away set with Jacksonville. However, Tampa Bay (35 pts.) and Carolina (32 pts.) both have three games left on their schedules, while Fort Lauderdale (34 pts.) has four.

Edmonton came to Cary sporting a depleted squad due to a congested late-season road schedule and international call-ups. Lance Laing, the team’s unquestioned dynamo, was away with the Jamaican national team for an international friendly.

Eddies’ manager Colin Miller fumed about both the NASL and Jamaican team after tonight's match.

“It’s crazy, the schedule,” Miller began. “The league obviously doesn’t care too much about FC Edmonton with our travel schedule. I’m also very disappointed in the Jamaican federation for taking Lance Laing to a friendly where he’s [already] suspended for the next 2-3 World Cup qualifiers. It makes no sense to me. For me the spirit of the game means more, and we were in a very crucial part of our season, and the Jamaican federation has shown our club no respect at all.”

Carolina (8-8-11, 32 pts.) travels to Fort Lauderdale this Saturday to face the Strikers in essentially another elimination game for the RailHawks. Carolina then visits Tampa Bay Oct. 24 before closing out their regular season in Cary Oct. 30 against Indy Eleven.

“I love where we are right now,” Clarke said. “Yeah, we’d love to be up [at the top of the standings]. We’re not, but there’s a mindset about them right now. Seven games to win a championship, and we’ve taken care of the first two. Now we go on the road for the third one. They believe they can get the job done.”

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Fitzgerald, Miller, Scott, Tobin, Low, Pérez, Albadawi (Osaki, 14’), Hlavaty (Novo, 57’), Shipalane, da Luz, Jackson (Thompson, 86’)

FCE: VanOekel; Edward, Watson, Moses, Zebie, Raudales, Cruz (Nonni, 78’), Jones, de Freitas (Ameobi, 46’), Corea (Smith, 78’), Fordyce

GOALS

CAR: Albadawi, 10’ (da Luz), Novo, 83’ (da Luz)

FCE: Fordyce, 45’ (PK)

CAUTIONS

CAR: Miller (90’)

FCE: Watson (38’, 62’), Ameobi (72’)

EJECTIONS

CAR: ---

FCE: Watson (62’)

ATTENDANCE: 3,558