Ottawa Fury FC win 1st of season in home opener
More than 7,000 fans came out for first home game since November
After a winter of retooling, the new-look Ottawa Fury FC came back to TD Place on a warm, sunny Saturday and introduced themselves with a 2-0 win over Miami FC.
More than 7,000 fans came to Lansdowne Park for the home opener to see newcomer James Bailey launch a free kick towards the net in the 25th minute that fellow new arrival Timbó tracked down and knocked in.
Fury go up 1-0 off a free kick in the 25th minute. Timbó knocks it in. <a href="https://t.co/pDGMVQJy6A">pic.twitter.com/pDGMVQJy6A</a>
—@amkfooteSubstitute Dennis Chin, another off-season signing playing his first home game, scored on a long shot in extra time of the second half.
Ottawa adds a late goal. Now 2-0 over Miami. <a href="https://t.co/mJGHDj1pW3">pic.twitter.com/mJGHDj1pW3</a>
—@amkfoote"With all the fans here and how the energy was, we needed to give them something to go home happy with," Chin said after the game.
Ottawa won their first of the season after they were held to a draw and three ties in their first four road games, only mustering a single goal in the process.
"Now we have that off our backs, we know how to play, we tweaked some things during the week and it showed off today," Chin said.
"We have very experienced players, we don't have any real rookies on our team, so we've all been here. The fact [is] you go down a couple games and your head goes down a little bit but we have good leadership… we came in knowing we had to fight and get the [win]."
'Like Christmas morning' for fans
The win came nearly six months after Ottawa's last home game, a 2-1 playoff win over Minnesota in early November that sent them to the league final.
"You wait months between games and when it finally happens it's like Christmas morning, almost," said Anton Rudisuela, capo (Italian for "captain") of the Bytown Boys supporters club.
The Fury would lose the final to the New York Cosmos and then see head coach Marc Dos Santos, captain Ritchie Ryan and leading scorer Tom Heinemann leave in the off-season, along with several other regulars.
Seven of their 11 starters on Saturday weren't with the team the year before.
"It's looking like a really promising year," said Rudisuela after the game.
"They had a rocky start on the road [but] they were gelling today… [it took] a little bit of time to click and get used to [head coach Paul] Dalglish's new system, he brought in these guys for a reason so I have to believe in my coach."
"We're more balanced [than we were earlier in the season]. Now we know where to sit back, where to pressure from, everyone had a smile on their face when they were playing and the crowd was behind us," Chin said.
Ottawa's next game is at home against Minnesota on May 7.