York United burst their time at the bubble with their second win of the season as Isaiah Johnston scored his first professional goal in a 1-0 win over FC Edmonton Saturday evening at IG Field.

The Nine Stripes came into the match fresh having last played on Sunday, July 18 where they fell 3-0 to Valour. With the extra rest for those who played last weekend, Jimmy Brennan made just one change to his XI, a welcomed one as captain and central defender Dominick Zator drew back into the lineup after missing the last three games through injury.

Alan Koch and FC Edmonton were in action Wednesday evening so little surprise in seeing four changes to the team that beat HFX Wanderers midweek with Jeannot Esua, Fraser Aird, Kyle Porter and Marcus Velado-Tsegaye all getting starts against York after beginning the last one from the bench.

The return of Zator allowed for some more attack minded players who’d been chosen to do a defensive job to get back into more natural advanced positions — the likes of Johnston and Max Ferrari looked lively in the final third from the off. Looking dangerous from set piece situations on several occasions early on, York got their breakthrough in the 12th minute from open play as Johnston volleyed home in impressive fashion following a great delivery from the right flank by Ferrari.

Edmonton dominated possession in the second half, owning 64% of the ball after the break as York sat a little deeper to absorb pressure with the one goal advantage in their back pocket. Koch would look to his bench to try and find a spark as Tobias Warschewski saw 20+ minutes after concerns over his fitness arising from his forced early departure on Wednesday night.

Warschewski would register two shots on target in his cameo up front — the Eddies would accumulate four in total in the second 45′ — but couldn’t solve Nathan Ingham as their streak of scoring late to secure points came to a close on Saturday.

With the win, York jump from last in the league table to fifth on nine points in eight matches played while Edmonton remain in sixth one point behind the Nine Stripes.

BOX SCORE

Goals

12′ — Isaiah Johnston (York United)

Discipline

26′ — Yellow: Amer Didic (FC Edmonton)

42′ — Yellow: Sharly Mabussi (FC Edmonton)

61′ — Yellow: Diyaeddine Abzi (York United)

64′ — Yellow: Cedric Toussaint (York United)