Pacific FC shocked Halifax Wanderers with a last-minute equalizer in the Maritimes on Wednesday night, as the 10-men hosts had to settle for a 2-2 draw with the Tridents in a thrilling midweek encounter.
With both sides coming off emphatic wins over the weekend, neither manager made many changes. Halifax brought Dan Nimick back into the side after serving a suspension, while Pacific’s only change was adding Cédric Toussaint back to their midfield.
Giorgio Probo came close to opening the scoring in the 13th minute, as an excellent passing move between him and Massimo Ferrin sent Probo into the penalty area; his attempt from a difficult angle got past Emil Gazdov but just trickled wide of the far post. After another handful of Wanderers chances in the next few minutes, Pacific found one of their own just before the 20th; Christian Greco-Taylor came barreling into the penalty area with speed, but Yann Fillion was able to hold onto the shot.
Around the half-hour mark, things took an unfortunate turn for the home side. Dan Nimick got caught in a challenge with Dario Zanatta, making contact from behind in a move the referee judged to be worthy of Nimick’s second yellow card. So, the Halifax centre-back found himself sent off in the first half again, after suffering the same fate against Pacific just over two weeks ago.
With one of his defenders thus ejected, Halifax boss Patrice Gheisar had no choice but to sacrifice Sean Rea, who had been one of his liveliest attackers so far, in order to bring on Jefferson Alphonse in the backline.
The 10-men Wanderers continued launching attack after attack at Pacific in the second half, and finally on the hour mark they had a breakthrough. Ryan Telfer danced through traffic in toward the box, and although he was tackled the ball bounced out to the corner of the box where Massimo Ferrin, in space, smashed the ball on the volley, as it hit the underside of the crossbar and dropped into the goal with one of the best strikes in the CPL this season.
Halifax’s lead didn’t last long, though. Pacific’s Steffen Yeates hit a shot from the top of the box that Fillion stopped with his forearms, but the ball spilled in front of him and Moses Dyer arrived quickly to score the loose ball and equalize.
After a quieter 10 minutes after the two goals, the Wanderers reclaimed the lead with 10 minutes to play. They won a free kick near the touchline just inside the attacking third, and Lorenzo Callegari delivered a perfect ball to the head of an unmarked Nassim Mekideche, who nodded it in to restore a one-goal lead for the hosts.
Pacific rained a storm of attacks on Halifax in the final 10 minutes, and were it not for a few timely defensive interventions and one excellent Fillion save on Adonijah Reid, they might have found their equalizer earlier.
With almost the final action of the game though, in the seventh minute of stoppage time, the ball finally fell for them in a chaotic scramble in the box. Thomas Meilleur-Giguère managed to put his foot through it from amid the fray, and found the back of the net to snatch a point at the death for Pacific.
Pacific FC's Resilience Tested
A Resilient Wanderers Performance
This game was very close to being a story of the Halifax Wanderers putting in an outstandingly resilient defensive performance, turning away wave after wave of pressure in the final 10 minutes to hold on for a possibly season-defining victory.
Instead, it’s not quite that, but a lot of the individuals in that group deserve immense praise for the way they’ve played, not just on Wednesday but in the last two games. Halifax have played 150 of the 180 minutes of the last two matches without Dan Nimick, who had been the club’s most heavily-used and dependable centre-back. In that time, they’ve held Forge FC — the league’s highest-scoring team — without a goal, and they nearly held on with 10 men for another victory.
To begin with, Nassim Mekideche has not had an easy job coming into a new team, having signed for the Wanderers last Friday and immediately playing back-to-back 90-minute shifts within a few days of each other. He had not been playing at all at his prior club in Tunisia, so to see him dropped into the fray in high-pressure matches in a playoff race, and perform as well as he has been, is remarkable. He has provided Halifax with a different kind of presence at the back, with his stability on the ball and his strength in the air.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Jefferson Alphonse was thrown into this game in the first half and forced into a difficult position, but he too put in an excellent shift — even though he was the defender Meilleur-Giguère flicked the ball over before the goal. Alphonse made 10 clearances and won two aerial duels, anchoring the middle of defence well.
Finally, the fullbacks were outstanding. Zachary Fernandez, playing on his weaker left side, was up and down the pitch with exceptional workrate all night. He won 12 duels and had three successful dribbles when he moved the ball forward himself.
Clément Bayiha was perhaps the best player on the pitch, though. He’s not usually a right-back, but Gheisar has deployed him in that role in the last two games and it’s been a revelation. Already, Bayiha earned a spot in the Team of the Week for his performance against Forge, but he was even better against Pacific, winning eight tackles and 12 duels.
“I’m starting to question myself,” Gheisar quipped postgame when asked about Bayiha. “I think that should have been his role from day one, he was fantastic. Here’s a young man that joined us after preseason, he will play any position we ask him to. He will give you the highest level of workrate, he has high-speed running, he wins his individual duels. I was really, really impressed and happy with him.”
A Battle for the Playoffs
The Wanderers remain on home soil after an astounding triumph on Saturday, when they trounced league leaders Forge FC 3-0 in a shock result that could keep their playoff hopes alive. Halifax still sit in last place, with a 6-5-11 record, but their 23 points mean they’re only three points behind Vancouver FC for the final playoff spot. In fact, if the Wanderers win this game on Wednesday, they’ll jump all the way into fifth and occupy that last postseason position thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
However, Pacific would also be able to push themselves into a playoff spot if they can get a result at the Wanderers Grounds. The Tridents are 7-5-10 and thus sit level with Vancouver on 26 points, with a game in hand (to be made up on Wednesday).
Pacific enjoyed their weekend as much as the Wanderers did; they beat Salish Sea derby rivals Vancouver 3-0 to seize back bragging rights from their neighbours for the first time this year.
In fact, Pacific have won both of their last two matches by a 3-0 scoreline. Two weeks ago, they hosted the Wanderers back at Starlight Stadium and demolished them in a frustrating game where Halifax saw both Dan Nimick and Cale Loughrey sent off for second yellow cards.
Halifax will therefore be hoping for a very different game this time around against Pacific. They’ll get both Nimick and Loughrey back after serving suspensions from those ejections, as well as Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, who was suspended for yellow card accumulation, which should give them a boost. Meanwhile, Pacific will also get two players back from bans, with Juan Quintana and Cédric Toussaint both eligible again.
Both Halifax and Pacific have been sitting on a game in hand over the rest of the league for weeks, but that will disappear on Wednesday night when they’ll catch up to the rest of the pack before the last five matches of the regular season.
With these two teams each scrambling to get back into the playoffs, this match could make or break either side’s campaign. Expect some drama under the lights in Nova Scotia in front of a fired-up midweek crowd.
Key Players to Watch
PFC played Saturday at Starlight Stadium and then flew 5,803 kilometres to Halifax to meet the HFX Wanderers today at 3 p.m. PT in the third longest distance in the world to travel between teams in a pro soccer domestic Premiership league.
That will take a toll on anybody’s body, including the Tridents’ terrific trio of late. Former Canada U-20 and Scottish Premiership player Dario Zanatta, 11-time New Zealand capped Moses Dyer and Romanian-import Andrei Tircoveanu have provided the goals in PFC’s consecutive 3-0 victories over HFX and Vancouver FC the last two weekends at Starlight Stadium that halted a previous five-game PFC scoreless drought that stretched to Aug. 2 and 10-game winless streak across all competitions.
Hometown-product Zanatta has three of those six PFC goals over the last two games, which are his first three of the season, Dyer two and Tircoveanu one.
“We brought Dario [Zanatta] in because of his experience from Scotland and to have him return to the Island because he is from Victoria,” said PFC head coach James Merriman, in his pre-game media conference.
“The goals weren’t coming so easy for him. It’s the life of a striker and it can grow into a bigger challenge.”
Zanatta noted that himself following his two goals in Saturday’s win over Vancouver FC: “I haven’t been as good as I want to be, and two weeks ago was sitting on zero goals on the season, and now I feel alive in the box and a whole new player.”
PFC bench boss Merriman said it has all come down to Zanatta’s perseverance and persistence: “Credit to Dario. He hasn’t stopped training, hasn’t stopped working and hasn’t stopped pushing and now he’s getting rewarded.”
The recent star turns by Zanatta, Dyer and Tircoveanu have been key for PFC, especially with striker and captain Josh Heard having been out long term with injury, and not expected back until next month.
Another trio of PFC players have returned from national-team duty during the recent FIFA international window and will almost certainly be pressed into action today. But they will also have jet legs after flying to Victoria from the Caribbean and Central America, and now all the way across Canada to Halifax, after midfielder Marco Dominguez started for Guatemala and forward Reon Moore and midfielder Steffen Yeates started for Trinidad and Tobago in CONCACAF Nations League games.
Today’s game is crucial in the hunt for the fifth and final playoff berth in the CPL. The Tridents and Vancouver FC are tied for fifth place with HFX and Valour FC of Winnipeg both three points behind. PFC and HFX each have six games remaining.
Looking Ahead
Both sides are on the road this weekend, as the Wanderers head to Winnipeg to play Valour FC on Saturday, Sept. 21 (2 p.m. CT/4 p.m. AT), while Pacific go to the nation’s capital to play Atlético Ottawa on Sunday (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT).
