FC Edmonton’s Brazilian midfielder Gustavo could be thinking of the opportunity squandered Saturday at the Indy Eleven for a long time.

Late in a tie game, Gustavo and striker Jake Keegan broke away alone after beating an offside trap, but were unable to connect to give Edmonton three valuable points in the North American Soccer League Spring Season standings.

They had to settle for one in the 1-1 tie, which combined with Wednesday’s win at the Jacksonville Armada FC, gave Edmonton a respectable four points on their two-game road trip.

“It was a great opportunity and one that went begging,” said FC Edmonton head coach Colin Miller. “Poor Gustavo, he’ll sleep poorly I’m sure, he came over and apologized after the game. But I thought he did well when he came on, as did all the substitutes, they all contributed in the last part of the game.

“It’s a shame, because I thought he could have hit the ball himself, rather than trying to lay it off, but you have to give credit to Indy and their goaltender, it was a hell of a save in the end.”

Having found themselves alone as Indy pushed forward expecting the play to be blown offside, Gustavo tried to pass the ball across the six-yard box to Keegan, but it was smothered by Indy goalkeeper Jon Busch.

Moment’s later Edmonton had another excellent opportunity to take the lead as Keegan laid a ball off to Gustavo at the top of the box, but his shot was blocked by a desperate lunging tackle from Indy defender Greg Janicki.

It was one of a handful of late scoring opportunities as both teams pushed for the win in an entertaining contest.

“We were desperate to get the win,” Miller said. “I said to the guys at half time, ‘Lets be brave,’ and the three substitutions we made were all positive ones trying to get the three points away from home, because we knew how valuable those two extra points would have been for us.

“But I would have taken four points before we left Edmonton and it wouldn’t have mattered how we got them, it was just unfortunate that we haven’t come away with six.”

With four of their first six game of the Spring Season on the road, FC Edmonton has put themselves in a good spot to make a run at the league leaders at home.

First, however, they have to host the Ottawa Fury in the opening game of the Amway Canadian Championships on Wednesday at Clarke Stadium.

Edmonton will then host the New York Cosmos on Saturday with another opportunity to climb the league standings.

“If you look at the games coming up in the next couple of weeks, we have a top of the table clash with the Cosmos, Ottawa on Wednesday, Ottawa away from home next week and then Carolina the following week at home,” Miller said. “That’s four fantastic games to look forward to, it’s an exciting time for the club.”

Saturday’s tie lifted Edmonton into a fifth-place tie with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the standings, within four points of the league-leading Cosmos and Carolina RailHawks. Keegan scored Edmonton’s goal in the 37th minute. Janicki opened the scoring for Indy.

Just over two week ago, FC Edmonton was at the bottom of the standings, winless and goalless through their first three games.

They conceded the first goal Saturday as Janicki was able to get to a bouncing cross off a free kick from the edge of the penalty area and poked the ball past FC Edmonton goaltender Matt VanOekel.

“I’m not sure if it came through a ruck of players or we were slow reacting to the cross and we were punished for it,” Miller said. “This season, we’ve been more on the front foot defensively, but after that I don’t recall Matt having to make too many big saves after that.”

VanOekel did have to make one key stop after giving the ball away needlessly a few minutes after the goal. The goalkeeper played the ball out through the heart of his penalty area, where it was intercepted by striker Justin Braun. VanOekel redeemed himself by diving out to make a good save on Braun.

Keegan tied the game eight minutes from half time, getting to the end of a Sainey Nyassi cross and lifting a header over Busch.

“I think the players deserve an enormous amount of credit, the work they’ve put in on this road trip has been fantastic,” Miller said. “That point could prove to be a valuable point. This is a good, hardworking and dangerous Indy team.

"We had enough chances at the end to win the game, but I’m very proud of the performance, it’s as good as any as we’ve had here in the past.”

derek.vandiest@sunmedia.ca

twitter.com/SUNdvandiest

GAME REVIEW

FC Edmonton 1, Indy Eleven 1

Man of the match: Jake Keegan

Was a thorn in the side of the Indy Eleven defence all night, scoring the tying goal in the first half. Keegan’s speed and ability to hurt Indy on the counter attack forced them to take a more defensive approach to the contest.

Game Grades

Offence C

Defence B

Goalkeeping A

Toughness A

Effort A

Why FC Edmonton tied: They did enough to win the game, but were unable to bury a couple of late opportunities. Playing their second game in three days, FC Edmonton did well to dictate play for long stretches of the game and did not fold after conceding the first goal of the contest.

Play of the game: Sainey Nyassi gets the ball wide and drifts a pass into the penalty area over the head of defender Greg Janicki to Jake Keegan, who is able to head it up and over goaltender Jon Busch for the tying goal.

Save of the game: Matt VanOekel makes a terrible pass from his own net, putting it on the foot of Indy striker Justin Braun. VanOekel totally redeems himself by coming out and making a sprawling save on Braun to keep FC Edmonton within a goal.

Up Next: FC Edmonton vs Ottawa Fury, Wednesday (7:30 p.m.) Clarke Stadium