Despite a late push from FC Edmonton, they were unable to pick up any points at Clarke Stadium on Saturday night, falling 2-1 to high-flying Pacific FC.

FC Edmonton head coach Alan Koch opted to rotate the squad a bit — including handing a first CPL start to young backup goalkeeper Darlington Murasiranwa, and a first start of the season for Anthony Caceres.

Pacific was still without their star attacker Marco Bustos, who is “day-to-day” according to head coach Pa-Modou Kah. The Tridents also opted to move Kadin Chung to left back, bringing in Kunle Dada-Luke on the right, and hand a start to Thomas Meilleur-Giguère at centre-back.

After a relatively uneventful start to the match, Pacific took the lead in the 28th minute. After a cross from Josh Heard was headed off the crossbar, Alejandro Diaz followed up with an impressive volley while turning his body, firing the visitors into the lead.

It was a sixth CPL goal of the season for Diaz, who also scored against the Vancouver Whitecaps in Canadian Championship action. It moves him into a tie for second place in the CPL Golden Boot race, with Atlético Ottawa forward Malcolm Shaw.

Pacific kept pushing for a second, and were rewarded just six minutes later on a long-range effort from Kadin Chung. After taking a touch in the middle of the park, cutting inside from the left, none of the Edmonton defenders came and challenged the ball, allowing Chung to sprint in and fire a rocket that Murasiranwa was unable to keep out.

Pacific were the better side in the opening 45 minutes, and took a deserved 2-0 lead into the break.

Unfortunately, Murasiranwa was hurt midway through the second half, and was carried off the pitch by his teammates, and replaced by Connor James in the 71st minute. The Eddies were allowed a sixth substitution to bring on James after one of their earlier subs was concussion-related.

Moments after the substitution, Easton Ongaro pulled one back for the home side with an impressive solo goal. He ran onto a pass over the backline, before making a couple of turns to throw off his defender and hitting the ball with his left foot. The shot from Ongaro beat Callum Irving in the Pacific goal, and his side immediately upped the tempo again.

Edmonton already had the momentum after scoring, momentum which continued after Jamar Dixon was given a second yellow card in the 80th minute. Despite being up a player for the remainder of the match — about 16 minutes after a lengthy stoppage time — FC Edmonton were unable to find an equalizer, and Pacific FC left Clarke Stadium with all three points.

The win sees them reclaim top spot in the standings after Cavalry FC overtook them earlier in the night, while the Eddies remain in seventh spot.

BOX SCORE

Goals

28′ — Alejandro Diaz (Pacific FC)

34′ — Kadin Chung (Pacific FC)

72′ — Easton Ongaro (FC Edmonton)

Discipline

14′ — Yellow: Jamar Dixon (Pacific FC)

54′ — Yellow: Fraser Aird (FC Edmonton)

80′ — Red: Jamar Dixon (Pacific FC) — second yellow