By Alexander Nathan
Ottawa Fury's 1-0 win over Indy 11 shot their opponents down to last in the NASL table, and Fury up to eighth. While New York Cosmos may be six points clear at the top, the rest of the league is tighter than a hipster's jeans with only six points separating Minnesota in second, and Indy themselves.
The victory was Fury's first since April 18th, but there was an element of fortune to the winning goal.
With two minutes remaining in the game, Ottawa’s central midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic drove down the right hand side of a congested penalty area. Confronted by a defender, he cut cleverly inside his man only to slip over as Indy's No. 4, Brad Ring, came to sweep up the danger. Fortunately for Fury, Ring wasn't being too careful about the direction of his clearance, comically smashing it straight into the tumbling Ubiparipovic. The ball rebounded in the kindest possible manner straight to Nicki Paterson – criminally unmarked - who drilled it into the far corner. It was a brilliant finish to a fortunate build up, but it was enough to give Ottawa all three much-needed points and send the home fans into raptures.
Though naturally pleased with the win, Fury head coach Marc Dos Santos was under no illusions after the game. Asked what his team would be focusing on in their next few training sessions, he told the press:
“There's a lot of good things to build on this game, but there's also things that we're all aware it wasn't good enough, so I don't feel it's going to be a week of happy go lucky and everybody's going to just [be] waiting for the game against Edmonton, I think we have to keep working on what we did in the last two weeks. We have to refresh and remind them of defensive cover, of how we defend as a unit, and at the same time we have to grow in the last third.”
This is the right attitude from Dos Santos. He and his coaching staff have definitely improved their team defensively in the last few weeks. On Saturday, Indy 11 were limited to just two shots on target as a strong Ottawa rearguard kept them at bay, getting a second consecutive clean sheet.
That will need to continue next Friday against Canadian rivals FC Edmonton, who have scored 15 goals so far this season to Ottawa's five. That is a drastic difference, but it isn't necessarily cause for too much concern. While Fury have conceded eight overall, Edmonton have shipped a league-high 17, suggesting a rather more laissez-faire attitude towards their defense than that espoused by Marc Dos Santos. If Ottawa can build more rhythm in their attacking play than they've demonstrated so far and make intelligent and most importantly composed decisions in the final third, they should be able to taken advantage of Edmonton's porous defense.
The possible return to the starting line up of striker Tom Heinamann, who came on at half time against Indy 11, would help the cause. The Missouri native got seven goals in 20 appearances last season.
Let's hope they can do it. Back to back home wins, eleven points and another goal or two really would feel like a seismic change to the picture of the season so far, and be a truly solid foundation to build on.
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