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The scoreline won’t show it.

But there were plenty of positives to take from Cavalry FC’s maiden voyage in Concacaf Champions Cup action.

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Moments of brilliance, for one.

And — finally — a goal to remember the debut, which wound up a 6-1 aggregate series victory for Major League Soccer’s Orlando City SC.

“We’ll take our licks from the result but certainly embrace our participation in the series,” said Cavalry GM/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr., following Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to Orlando City in the second leg of the continental event’s first-round set at Orlando’s Inter&Co Stadium.

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“I think we’ve become addicted to it,” continued Wheeldon, with his trademark grin. “I think the level of the competition and the quality is something we want to experience year-in and year-out.”

Given their would-be success in the Canadian Premier League, returning to the Cup is pretty much a given.

And on those returns, the Cavs can now draw from the experience gained from Tuesday’s visit to Florida and last Wednesday’s host of Orlando City — a 3-0 affair favouring the visitors — in Langford, B.C.

“It’s all about those fine margins — and Orlando had those over us,” Wheeldon said. “And there’s no shame in admitting that.

“We’re rookies when it comes down to this level,” continued Wheeldon. “And we’re playing a team we know that is 15 times our salary cap.

“But what we wanted to do is show we could live in the moments with a great side like Orlando. Really enjoyed the series.”

Wheeldon & Co. knew coming in Tuesday that the three-goal deficit was a monster.

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However, great chances early gave Cavalry hope, while the club learned from last week that it needed to keep up solid defensive form — and did just that holding Orlando City back.

The best chance saw Charlie Trafford get his head off a corner kick, but the ball just rolled wide of the far side.

And a couple of odd-man rushes on pushes upfield by fullbacks Daan Klomp and Eryk Kobza looked threatening but went for naught.

Even if it didn’t score, Cavalry showed promise in both shape and attack.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Cavs goalkeeper Marco Carducci was doing his thing.

He got his fingers on a well-placed shot by former Italy Serie A star Luis Muriel after a hardy individual rush through the Cavs defence.

Carducci also scrambled back to grab a quick kick by Ramiro Enrique and later stopped Enrique on a point-blank header.

The only blemish from the Cavs’ first-half effort was no goals scored on Orlando City’s second-string keeper Mason Stajduhar and no ground gained on the 3-0 total.

“Tommy and his team created a lot of difficulties for us,” said Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja. “They complicated things for us … not an easy task.”

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It wasn’t until the second half when Orlando City broke Cavalry, getting on the board when Muriel backed the Cavs into the box, broke towards the middle and tapped a ball to Nico Lodeiro for a shot off the post and in past Carducci.

The 48th-minute goal was the dagger in the series, giving Orlando City a 4-0 stranglehold.

But that didn’t deter Cavalry, with Wheeldon brilliantly throwing all caution to the wind in making substitutions to dot the field with attackers wherever.

“Strategically, we wanted to frustrate them in the first half with an extra defender, and often at times we were in a back five,” Wheeldon said. “And second half, we wanted to unleash with more attackers and have a go, because it was 0-0. We thought … one, we wanted to make history with our first goal, and two, we wanted to get a result here.

“In moments, we had them on their heels.”

And they were finally rewarded for those pushes, as the Cavs finally notched their first Concacaf Champions Cup goal, when Myer Bevan redirected Willy Akio’s seeing-eye pass through the box in the 64th minute.

That prompted much rejoicing by the Cavalry side — something to take home.

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“That’s a special one for Myer,” Wheeldon said. “Him and his partner just welcomed in their second child just prior to this.”

Unfortunately, it was Orlando City with the only other marks in the contest — and the series.

Enrique finally got his goal, pasting a beautiful ball from well outside the box into the far-side top corner that Carducci had no chance to save in the 71st minute.

And in the 88th minute, Kyle Smith drove a ball that found him just outside the box again into the far side of the net.

All that despite many chances and flurries put up by Cavalry in a push to find a Hail Mary bounce-back in the match.

“It was the same thing in the first half, when we were just second guessing, and the sharpness of Orlando’s funnel — when they’re defending and in defensive transition —. doesn’t allow you to always get on your preferred foot,” said Wheeldon, of the second half. “So we actually talked about when you have the space, just take the space and take the moment. And I think we did.

“I think we were unlucky with a couple of half-chances in the second.”

Unlucky, yes …

But better for the experience.

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“We’ve now scored our first Concacaf Champions Cup goal,” added Wheeldon. “Next time we come back, we want to get our first victory.”

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With the first-round win, Orlando now moves on to play Mexico giant Tigres UANL … Cavs forward Ali Musse shook off a bout of food poisoning to enter the game for the second half … The Cavs’ Starting XI was: goalie Carducci; defenders Klomp, Kobza, Bradley Kamdem Fewo and Callum Montgomery; midfielders Trafford, Fraser Aird, Shamit Shome and Sergio Camargo; and forwards Akio and Bevan … The club’s subs were: goalie Jack Barrett; defenders Tom Field and Michael Harms; midfielders Jesse Daly, Lucas Dias and Diego Gutiérrez; and forwards Musse, Tobias Warchewski and Lleyton Brooks … Cavalry was without midfielder Mael Henry (lower body) … Next up for Cavalry is the Canadian Premier League opener against Forge FC on April 13 at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field (2 p.m.).

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM

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