“Frustrated” Porter says FC Edmonton can’t be charitable to last-place Atlanta By Steven Sandor Posted on August 18, 2011 Comments Off on “Frustrated” Porter says FC Edmonton can’t be charitable to last-place Atlanta 0 674 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Kyle Porter FC Edmonton is on an eight-game winless streak which has seen it plummet from second to sixth in the NASL standings. But, for Kyle Porter, last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Fort Lauderdale was especially hard to take. Porter, tied with Shaun Saiko atop the team scoring charts with six goals to his name, watched the Strikers salvage a point with a late goal from the Foote Field stands. It was an awfully helpless feeling, watching in street clothes as FC Edmonton failed to win. Even though the team announced Sunday that Porter’s scratch was a coach’s decision, he said that he was told to rest a sore ankle. “It was very frustrating,” said Porter. “I definitely wanted to be out there, but I had an ankle problem. I wanted to play, but they (the coaches) didn’t want me to aggravate it.” Kyle Porter FCE is seven points up on the Montreal Impact (with seven games to play) for the last NASL playoff spot. FC Edmonton plays last-place Atlanta on Sunday at Foote Field. And, while you need to respect every opponent, the players know that these are three points the Eddies must have. “We should not lose,” said Porter. “No way. We have to go full throttle. We can’t take Atlanta for granted just because they are in last place.” Last weekend, when the Impact faced Atlanta, Montreal was up 2-0 inside of 10 minutes. To get back in the win column, FCE must limit the silly mistakes that have plagued it throughout this winless streak. Last weekend, David Santamaria was left unmarked in the box and he was able to convert a free-kick that was popped into the danger area. “In the first half of the season all of the bounces seemed to be going our way,” said Porter. “We’re getting the back end of it now. We have to limit our mistakes.” As well, veteran defender Paul Matthijs was on the pitch doing some light training at FCE’s practice Thursday. A hernia problem was expected to keep Matthijs out for the rest of the season, but he did train — but didn’t take part in any scrimmages.
