Another draw leave FC Edmonton with only a glimmer of hope

In a game that FC Edmonton needed to win to stay alive in the playoff race, they were fortunate to come away with a 1-1 draw against the Minnesota Stars, thanks to Shaun Saiko's injury time equalizer.

PHOTO CREDIT - FCEdmonton.com

Edmonton - September 8, 2012 - In a game that FC Edmonton needed to win to stay alive in the playoff race, leading-scorer Shaun Saiko scored a goal in injury time to save the Eddies’ season.

It was the defending champions Minnesota Stars FC who opened the scoring early in the first half when Amani Walker hooked onto a cross from Justin Davies in the box and slotted it past Lance Parker in the Edmonton goal in the 18th minute.

The Eddies struggled to get any offensive pressure on the Stars in the first 45 and the Stars looked like they were cruising to the sixth and final playoff spot.

In the second half, Minnesota kept the pressure on and several of the Eddies’ chances were either stopped by Matt Van Oekel or missed the Minnesota goal to keep the score at 1-0.

It looked liked the season was over for the Eddies, but the referee added two minutes of injury time at the end of the 90 and Saiko took full advantage of the extra time.

With the last kick of the ball, Saiko did what Eddies’ fans have become accustomed to and hammered a menacing shot past Van Oekel into the Stars net to tie the game 1-1.

The draw leaves Edmonton eight points behind the Stars in the playoff race with just three games to go.

FC Edmonton will finish its regular season with three games at home while the Stars face league leaders San Antonio Scorpions and the Puerto Rico Islanders and simply need two points from their remaining three games to knock the Eddies out.

Next up for FC Edmonton is a Wednesday evening match against the Carolina RailHawks. Kick off for the game is 7 p.m. The Eddies will honour a college crowd on Wednesday night with $4 beers and discounted tickets in advance for students with proper student I.D.