Just win baby … but it has to be by at least two goals.

After losing 3-1 in the first leg of their home-and-home series with York, FC Edmonton didn’t need a calculator to know what it took to advance to the next round of the Canadian Championship tournament.

Post a 2-0 victory Wednesday at Clark Field and they would win the tie-breaker (away goals) and move on the face the Montreal Impact in the next round.

That isn’t normally an unrealistic ask — there have been several second-leg comebacks in the soccer world this season, like Liverpool coming back from 3-0 down on the road to win 4-0 at home over Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal.

The problem is that FC Edmonton has pretty much been allergic to offence this season, scoring just three times in their first six games (and just one in their previous five games).

So potting two in 90 minutes seemed like a tall order.

Too tall for Edmonton, as it turned out. The Eddies’ lack of touch around the net bit them once again as a 1-0 victory rang hollow, leaving them one goal short of their desired result.

Edmonton didn’t find the back of the net until Mele Temguia buried one from close range in extra time, but by then they were just seconds away from elimination.

The first half seemed to lack the urgency one might expect from a goal-starved team that needed an offensive explosion (by FC Edmonton standards, anyway) to keep its Canadian championship hopes alive.

At times it was hard to tell which side was protecting a two-goal lead and which side needed a season-high output. Edmonton had one shot on goal in the scoreless first half to zero shots for York.

York didn’t need to press for goals, though. They could just sit back and clog the area waiting for the lowest-scoring team in the league to not score any goals. And that’s exactly what happened.

Edmonton had plenty of hustle, but, as has been the case all season, lacked touch around the goal and struggled to even generate chances against a team that was holding most of its players back on defence.

The desperation and push finally showed itself with 15 minutes to play, as Edmonton posted back-to-back scoring chances, the second of which required a diving save on the goal line from keeper Nathan Ingham to keep it 0-0.

They finally broke through in extra time, going up 1-0 on Temguia’s goal, setting up about two minutes’ worth of high drama as they fought for the equalizer. The closest they came was a corner kick that offered no threat.

Has they pressed that hard all night it might have been a different story, but it was too little too late and York will advance to the next round.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Edmonton had a second goal disallowed in the first leg of the match, a controversial decision that ultimately proved to be the difference in the end. Two away goals would have put them in a dominant position heading in the second leg but it wasn’t meant to be.

HOME SICK

Edmonton’s goal in extra time was their first at home this season. They played to a 0-0 draw in their first game and were shut out 1-0 in their second. This game makes it over 270 minutes on FC turf without finding the back of the net.

CUTTING CORNERS

All three of York’s goals in the first game came off of corner kicks, so the crowd held its breath every time York lined up for another one on Wednesday. But Edmonton shored up that area of its game and didn’t give up a fourth.

CROWD CONTROL

There was a decent crowd on hand to watch this one, given that it was going up against Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. But they drew about 1,500 on a hot sunny night.

NEXT UP

The Eddies are back in action Saturday in the second edition of the Al-Classico match with first place Cavalry FC (Calgary). Edmonton lost the first meeting in Calgary by a 1-0 score.

Twitter.com/rob_tychkowski

rtychkowski@postmedia.com