The New York Cosmos are still winless on the road, but the club continued its late-game drama Sunday afternoon in a 1-1 draw with FC Edmonton at Clarke Stadium.
Trailing 1-0, the Cosmos earned the draw thanks to midfielder Marcos Senna’s first Cosmos goal. The former Spanish international blasted a low free kick through the Edmonton wall and into the corner of the net.
“At least we picked up a point and we’re bringing something home,” defender Hunter Freeman said. “Now we have two games at home where we have to defend our home field. If we win those two games, I think it’ll put us in good position in the table going into the last half of the season.”
After a scoreless first half, FC Edmonton moved in front on the hour mark when Neil Hlavaty pounced on a rebound off Cosmos goalkeeper Kyle Reynish and played the ball back toward the net where Chris Nurse headed into the back of the net to put the Eddies in front, 1-0.
It was a much more stout performance in the defensive third than the Cosmos previous road game, a 3-0 loss at Carolina on August 17.
“I thought defensively as a whole it was one of our best performances,” Freeman said. “[The goal] kind of woke us up a little bit. We’re not totally disappointed I think, but we are a bit that we didn’t get three points.”
For a while it seemed the Cosmos would return home from Alberta, Canada empty-handed before Senna came up huge with less than 15 minutes to play. The veteran, who set up Henry Lopez’s stoppage-time winner against San Antonio the week prior, put his free kick through the Edmonton wall and past goalkeeper Lance Parker.
“I think we were the better team on the day,” Freeman said. “We walk out of here with a point and considering we were down a goal, fought back, tied it up and had some chances to get a win, I think it’s a good sign.”
While the Cosmos are winless away from home, they have secured points in two of their three road game. The Cosmos currently sit in third place, two points behind leaders Carolina in the North American Soccer League fall standings.
The squad, undefeated in two matches at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium, will begin a two-game homestand staring Saturday night when they host the Atlanta Silverbacks at 7 p.m. That is followed by a Sept. 14 clash with Minnesota United, also with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
“The feel here is very different than when we are home,” Cosmos forward Henry Lopez said. “The field was a little bit hard and every away game is going to be tough, but the team is going to be better day by day.”
