“If we finish in the same position next year, third from the bottom, I’ll be out of a job,” said Miller. “No one needs to tell me that.”

On Monday, FC Edmonton’s brass brought in each of its players for face-to-face end-of-season meetings. And, on Tuesday, the club announced the status of all its players who were under contract at the end of the 2013 season.

The weather forecasts are calling for some rather inhospitable conditions for FC Edmonton’s final home game of the season.

“Before the game, I talked to (commissioner) Bill Peterson and I told him no way there’s going to be a trophy presentation tonight,” said Miller. “I told him ‘have you booked a flight for next week?’”

NASL commissioner Bill Peterson has an unfortunate problem on his hands. And that’s what to do with Silverbacks midfielder Danny Barrera, who is earning (or has earned) the reputation as the league’s dirtiest player.

“I want to apologize for the performance today,” said Fordyce, who scored the Eddies’ lone goal, a 93rd-minute consolation, in a 2-1 loss to Minnesota United FC.

“I spoke with him, just himself and me,” said Miller. “I told him that I thought he was an underachiever. I told him that I thought he could put his stamp on games the way that (Nigel) Reo-Coker does for the Whitecaps. I am delighted with the way he’s now getting into the box, delighted that he hasn’t been involved in silly changes. We all know he’s a brave lad, but I think he’s got it in him to be a special player.”

“It was a catalogue of disasters, it was a shocking trip,” FCE coach Colin Miller said of the trip “Finally, the rain delay set it right up for us to have the kind of first half we did. But I don’t want to make excuses, we set high standards at this club.

“It was a lot harder to come back than I thought,” admitted Hamilton, who had 30 orange-clad family and friends at Clarke Stadium cheering him on. “There was a lot of emotion at the start of the game. I didn’t think I played very well.”

“We have a very good, very positive relationship with the Whitecaps,” said Miller. “The agreement was that Carlyle would be spending the season with us here in Edmonton, the only exception to that would be if the Whitecaps found themselves in dire straits. Well, they are clearly in dire straits at the moment.”