The Eddies then pushed forward, trying to find the winning goal. Their best chance came in the 89th, when Nurse’s effort found the post. Had the ball been a few inches over, Nurse would have had his fourth goal in four games.

But, as we get ready for this weekend’s kickoff to the NASL spring season, the Rowdies and MUFC are the clear favourites to top the table.

While MLS wrapped up its regular season, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Minnesota Stars gave us an NASL championship that was far more enthralling than any MLS Cup in recent memory.

FC Edmonton turned September into Christmas for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Antoniuk, who scored the first-ever winning goal in FC Edmonton’s NASL history but was released by the team at the end of the 2011 season, got the only tally as the Tampa Bay Rowdies edged the Eddies by a 1-0 score.

In an entertaining, end-to-end match which saw both teams create their fair shares of scoring chances, FC Tampa Bay got a second-half goal from Shane Hill and an insurance marker from Pascal Millien to give the home side a 3 -1win over FC Edmonton.

Glaring errors from FC Edmonton were punished by FC Tampa Bay. But, the visitors were full value for a 2-1 win over the Eddies at Foote Field.

A 3-0 loss to FC Tampa Bay Saturday showed just how far behind schedule the Impact are when it comes to being ready for Major League Soccer. Other than keeper Bill Gaudette, who made several outstanding saves to keep the scoreline from being more severe, there wasn’t an Impact player on the pitch who looked anywhere close to being what anyone would call an MLS prospect.