And the San Francisco Canadians, er, Deltas,  did it with the kind of gutsy performance that might make a certain hockey commentator known for flashy suits and big collars wonder if the team should just be up and moved to Kingston and entered in the Canadian Premier League.

FC Edmonton’s roster was depleted; the team had just a keeper and 12 outfield players healthy enough to play. Thanks to omissions, injuries and Gold Cup call-ups, the New York Cosmos brought a squad to Edmonton that looked nothing like the kind of team we see in NASL week in, week out. Thanks to a 79th-minute goal from Eric Calvillo …

If the Eddies are indeed putting together a special sort of season, they may look back on Wednesday’s 2-1 win at home over the New York Cosmos as the day they went from “the team that’s on a hot streak” to a “team that’s a genuine contender for a Soccer Bowl.”

The Eddies played the second half with a gusting wind at their backs, and it played havoc with the game. And, with the score level at 1-1 late in the second half, the Eddies had two wind-assisted efforts go off the bar.

After FCE keeper John Smits was called for bringing down New York’s Jemal Johnson, Senna stepped to the penalty spot early in the second half and, after a stutter-step, blasted a penalty kick sky high into the Long Island night.

So the question remains, how will TD Place look when the Fury hosts NASL games later in the season? The one danger of playing in large multipurpose stadiums is that even if you get a crowd of 7,000 or 8,000 — which is excellent by modern NASL standards — the stadium looks and feels kinda empty.

Despite the big crowd and an FC Edmonton attack that has been changed over from last season, there were some storylines that FCE supporters would find all too familiar. The Eddies, who boasted the worst offence and best defence in NASL last season, took until the 68th minute to actually place a shot on frame, an effort from striker Frank Jonke that was blocked by Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer.

The Montreal Impact will not take part in the NASL playoffs. Sure, the Impact did its part — crushing the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks by a 4-0 count on the final day of the regular season. But, the NSC Minnesota Stars preserved its one-point advantage over the Impact with a 2-1 win on the road over the first-place Carolina RailHawks.

A last-gasp header from substitute Paul Craig has guaranteed FC Edmonton a trip to the NASL playoffs. Craig scored at the death, heading home a corner from Shaun Saiko to give the Eddies a 2-1 win over the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks, who were reduced to 10 men at the half-hour mark.

With his team's final NASL season circling the drain, Impact coach Nick De Santis put out a line-up that some may have felt was randomly drawn from a hat, but one that paid dividends as the Montreal side ran roughshod over the last-place Atlanta Silverbacks, taking a 4-0 decision in front of some 11,000 delighted fans.