After 85 scoreless minutes on Thursday evening, a Moses Dyer penalty would earn Valour all three points in a 1-0 victory over Atlético Ottawa.

Mista named an unchanged starting lineup from Ottawa’s win over Cavalry on the weekend, while Rob Gale opted to make two changes to Valour’s starting 11. Sean Rea was brought in to replace Keven Alemán, while Rafael Galhardo was given a first start of the season, replacing Moses Dyer.

Ottawa lost centre-back Brandon John in the 24th minute, as he was forced out of the match with an injury. Keesean Ferdinand replaced him, taking over at right back and pushing Drew Beckie to his more natural centre-back role.

A few minutes later, Raphael Ohin forced a mistake in the midfield, Austin Ricci picked up the ball and ran in on goal for the game’s first big chance of the game in the 26th minute. He tried to curl a shot around Dylon Powley, but missed just inches wide of the right post.

Powley was forced into making an impressive save with a few minutes left in the first half, diving to his right to stop a shot from William Akio that was destined for the back of the net.

In all, Powley made four saves in the first half — as Valour were able to fire 14 shots at him. Many of them went soaring over the bar, or just wide of the posts, but the former FC Edmonton shot-stopper was the busier of the two goalkeepers. Ottawa, meanwhile, had three shots in the opening 45 minutes, forcing two stops from Jonathan Sirois.

The second half, like the first, was full of end-to-end counter attacks and several exciting attacks. Ottawa in particular looked threatening after the break as they got Malcolm Shaw more involved in the action, with Zach Verhoven also making some runs down the right flank.

Valour were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, after a handball in the box from an Ottawa defender, allowing Moses Dyer a chance to win the game from 12 yards out. The New Zealand international made no mistake, sending Powley the wrong way for his third goal of the season — and third from the spot — tying him atop the CPL leaderboard with Pacific’s Marco Bustos.

Valour had another chance to score in the final moments of the match, but Jared Ulloa fired his shot wide. Drew Beckie had a chance for Otttawa at the other end shortly after, but couldn’t get his header on target and the match would end 1-0.

With the win, Valour have now won five of their six matches at The Kickoff — keeping clean sheets in all five — and remain at the top of the table. Ottawa fall to 2-0-4, sitting in sixth place after six matches. Both teams below them — HFX Wanderers and FC Edmonton have one game in hand over them, as well.