Under gloomy gray skies, the Deltas and FC Edmonton looked sure to end a rather dreary match with a scoreless draw. But a late fortuitous bounce from a Christian Portilla free kick found the back of the net and earned San Francisco a full three points in Canada.
In the 88th-minute Jackson was fouled out wide. Portilla lined up a free kick that he looped into the box. The Deltas Tommy Heinemann and Kenny Teijsse both attempted to head the cross and missed. Their attempts, however, froze Edmonton’s keeper Chris Konopka. The ball then dropped at the six-yard line and bounced into the far net.
San Francisco’s second victory in a row on the road moved the Deltas back up the table into second place with 12 points. They are only two points behind league-leading Miami FC.
Both teams played a compact counter-attacking style looking for an opportunity to spring free.
Before Portilla’s goal, the best scoring chance for either team happened early in the second-half. FC Edmonton’s Jake Keegan ran onto a ball misjudged by the Deltas defense and had a one-on-one with Romuald Peiser. The keeper was quick off his line and forced Keegan’s shot for the near post just wide.
“We know this is a tough place to play and you have to be ready,” said SF Deltas head coach Marc Dos Santos. “With everything we’ve done in the first half and our mentality during the 90 minutes, the club deserved the three points. Now, we have to forget this game and focus on the U.S. Open Cup.”
The Deltas have a busy week ahead. They will match up against the USL-PDL team Burlingame Dragons for a US Open Cup game on Wednesday night at Cagan Stadium at Stanford University. They then return home to Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on Friday night to face the Jacksonville Armada at 7:30 pm.
