Indy Eleven Draw Ottawa Fury FC on the Road
Indy Eleven and Fury FC played out a 1-1 draw at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa as the traveling club drops to third place in the NASL fall season. Indy sit three points behind the New York Cosmos who are tied in points with FC Edmonton atop the NASL standings.
NASL Soccer News: After three straight losses on the road, Indy Eleven earned their second point away from home in the Fall Season with a 1-1 draw at Ottawa Fury FC.
First half action saw both Indy and Ottawa come close on a number of chances, the first of which fell to the way of Ottawa just three minutes in when a streaking Ryan Williams rifled an effort that was blocked by captain Colin Falvey. Just a few minutes later, the first chance for Indy fell to Dylan Mares as he collected a pass outside the edge of the 18 yard box but was unable to keep his subsequent effort on frame. In the 25th minute, it was again Mares at the center of the action when he unleashed a low drive from 25 yards out only to see it roll just wide of the net.
The best chance of the first half for Indy came just after the 30 minute mark when link up play between forwards Omar Gordon and Eamon Zayed saw the former slip a pass through for the latter, but the Irishman’s effort trickled just wide of Debellis’s right hand side and out for a goal kick. For Ottawa, their best opportunity came in the 37th minute off a set piece by midfielder Williams. Over 30 yards out from goal, Williams lifted a ball towards the back end for defender Rafael Alves, who headed across goal towards midfielder Lance Rozebloom, but an excellent challenge by right-back Lovel Palmer prevented either side from breaking the deadlock.
In the second half, the pace of play greatly picked up as the two sides began to drive up the pitch looking for the first goal. In the 56th minute, Ottawa introduced their first substitute of the match in Thomas Stewart, and the forward made an immediate impact. Winning a free kick just outside the box, Stewart made way for set-piece specialist Williams to take. Williams stepped over the ball and pounded a curling effort towards Eleven ‘keeper Jon Busch, but the veteran was only able to punch it high and back into the area where Stewart met the rebound and headed his side in front to open the scoring after 59 minutes.
Following the goal, Indy head coach Tim Hankinson made his first substitution as midfielder Dylan Mares made way for Gerardo Torrado, and seconds later Indiana’s Team was back on level terms through the right foot of Brad Ring. Also following a dead ball, Nicki Paterson whipped in a cross that was initially cleared by the Fury FC defense but only as far as Ring, and the midfielder opened his 2016 account in style by knocking home a perfectly timed effort off the underside of the crossbar and in.
Chances fell few and far between as both teams made their final set of substitutions. But, with both sides building momentum towards the end of the match, weather conditions disrupted the play in the 83rd minute as lightning took the skies over TD Place causing a 20-minute delay in proceedings.
After the restart, neither side were able to conjure up a quality opportunity. A Nemanja Vukovic free-kick in the 88th minute came closest to threatening DeBellis’s goal, but the Fury FC ‘keeper made no mess and saw the effort through to the end.
A valiant effort by the “Boys in Blue” secured another a point away from Carroll Stadium. Next up, Coach Hankinson’s crew will head to New York to face the Cosmos this Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM ET, viewable on ONE World Sports.
Source: Indy Eleven
