EDMONTON - When FC Edmonton opened the fall season in Hamilton against Forge FC, the game was especially tough on midfielder Ajay Khabra. He didn't travel with the team to Hamilton because he needed to stay behind in Edmonton to attend a funeral. And then, when he did get on a Friday-night flight to catch up with the Eddies in Ontario, there were mechanical issues. With the delays, he didn't get to his destination until the wee hours of the morning … on game day. He ended up starting, playing 71 minutes and completing over 95 per cent of his passes, as the Eddies prevailed 2-1. It marked the second time in three meetings that the Eddies have beaten Forge this season. Khabra and his Eddies teammates will host Forge this Saturday, hoping to make it three out of four. "I think we're a tough team to play against," Khabra said. "But they're a very tough team to play against as well. They like to play nice football, they like to keep the ball in possession. But I think we match up really well against them, because we're tough to break down and the last game we played against them, we finished any chances we had gotten against them. So I think we need to clean up some offensive stuff, but, again, we'll be tough to break down as they know — and many of the other teams know." Khabra, who has his undergrad degree from the University of Alberta but is still taking courses online as he hopes to one day get his master's in physiotherapy, has emerged as a regular starter on the Eddies after beginning the season as more of a depth player. In three fall-season starts, 85.5 per cent is the lowest the midfielder's passing success rate has dipped. He doesn't play in a slot that brings him a lot of glory, but his ability to link play will have a huge bearing on if the Eddies are successful or not in the fall. "(FCE coach Jeff Paulus) has told me he believes in me and that you've just got to be confident in yourself," said Khabra of biding his time before getting the chance to start. "It's tough, because a team can only field 11 players. So, when you're not getting that opportunity, you've got to do whatever it takes to get better in practice. And, when you do get that opportunity, you're ready to take advantage of it." Goalkeeper Connor James, a teammate of Khabra's at the U of A and with FCE, says discipline has been the key to the Eddies' success against Forge – and that there's no way the Eddies can assume they have the Hamilton team figured out. "I wouldn't say that we have their number," said James. "I think the first game against them (a 2-0 loss) we really struggled against them … We didn't create a ton of chances and conceded a lot of good opportunities. But, over the last couple of games, defensively our shape against them has really been something special. I think it's a mentality we come into the game with, where we're thinking that we're playing against Forge, we know these guys gave us a runaround in that first game, we know that this is a really strong team with a lot of really good players, so we're going to have our best foot forward here." But, the elephant in the room: What kind of team will Forge send to Edmonton? Next week, Forge begins its CONCACAF League campaign. Will Coach Bobby Smyrnioits bring his best roster two time zones west to Edmonton on the weekend, with a huge CONCACAF tilt midweek back in Hamilton? James said the Eddies are prepping to see Forge's "A" lineup. They're expecting to play the midfield dynamic duo of Tristan Borges and Kyle Bekker. They expect to see Emery Welshman in the attack. "No, we're completely putting that (Forge's schedule) out of our minds," said James. "We're expecting them to put their best foot forward, especially because they're competing with us for the Fall season. We expect them to be putting out their best players because they want three points off of us and keep us down below them in the standings, and they know that we're going to be hungry. We're chasing them right now."

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