Final Score: Halifax Wanderers 2-0 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Watson 9′, 52′
Game of the 2023 season: 35
CPL match: 402
Match in a minute or less
The Halifax Wanderers are winless no more in CPL play this season, as they picked up a 2-0 victory over Valour FC at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday to kickstart their 2023 campaign.
After an early scare from Valour’s Guillaume Pianelli inside two minutes, who struck the post with an acrobatic attempt, it’d be all Wanderers from the rest of that point onwards.
As a result, midfielder Callum Watson would do well to open the scoring after a great run from Aidan Daniels in the ninth minute, before adding his brace after a great ball from Lorenzo Callegari in the 52nd minute, becoming the first CPL player this season to score two goals in a game in the process.
From there, the Wanderers did what they needed to do defensively, allowing them to claim their first league and home win since September 10th of 2022, which also just happened to be against Valour.
Three Observations
Complete performance on both sides of the ball allows Wanderers to claim first win of 2023:
It was the question on everyone’s lips over the last couple of weeks – when would the Wanderers grab their first win of the 2023 campaign?
Through eight games, they’d had their chances to win. Having taken the lead in four different games, they’d come close to a victory on a few occasions, but ultimately, let all of those opportunities go to waste.
In particular, their biggest frustration was that they were yet to put up a complete performance across 90 minutes. Games in which they’d started well didn’t often finish that way, while some of their best ends to games often came after slow starts.
Therefore, it felt like their biggest goal going forward was to find a way to put in a complete performance from minute one to minute ninety, which would then hopefully lead to that magical victory.
Turns out, they’d get that in this game.
After an early scare from Valour, who hit the post within two minutes, it would be all one-way traffic for the Wanderers from that point onwards, as they started to really take over the game.
Knowing Valour’s ability to defend deep and compact, the Wanderers tried to stretch them out and move them around in possession whenever possible, showing strong patience with their possession play. Comfortable just to hold onto the ball, it started to draw out Valour higher up to the pitch, opening up space in behind them.
Even more importantly, however, was that in the moments where they didn’t have the ball, the Wanderers then showed that same commitment and patience in their play. In fact, they were arguably even better off the ball than on it, doing well to apply strong pressure defensively, especially in midfield.
Then, in moments where they lost the ball, they did an excellent job of tracking back and filling gaps, not allowing Valour to get any dangerous looks in transition, where they can often be so lethal.
That was key, because while the Wanderers have looked good on the ball for much of the season, they’ve shown a few cracks defensively at times. That’s hurt them, as it has left them prone to concede goals at inopportune moments, especially when they have the lead and invite pressure.
In this game, however, that would be no issue for the Wanderers, as they did well to keep things tight even once they went up and Valour started to push. From there, they did well to hold them off long enough to grab a second goal, and with their first two-goal lead of the season, that’d be enough for them to grab this monumental result.
“Well, it shows that everything is in those little details because we’ve come away with three points today, where we haven’t done that in previous games,” Watson said afterwards. “So yeah, those little details are what we’ve worked on throughout the week, and they’ve paid off today, so we’re thankful for that.”
Because of that, they can sit back and look at this performance with a lot of pride, knowing that they controlled all areas of the game, especially defensively. Seeing that they finished the game by outshooting Valour 12-4, had seven shots on target to Valour’s zero, held 56% of possession, allowed just 12 touches in the box and won the xG battle 1.88-0.12, it’s all dominance from Halifax, no matter how you slice it.
“I thought today, we handled the transition moments well,” head coach Patrice Gheisar noted. “But we also held on to the ball for long stretches of the game, and you don’t have to defend if you hold onto the ball.”
Add in that they were able to do that in front of another strong crowd of Halifax fans, to boot, and it doesn’t get much better than that for a first win for the Wanderers, especially after what has been a tough couple of weeks for the city and province of Nova Scotia off the field, too.
“More than anything, I’m really ecstatic for the group of boys, for the organization, for the city and for the province of Nova Scotia,” Gheisar said. “After everything people have gone through, hopefully today put a smile on everyone’s face, especially the ones that have gone through those turbulent times over the past two weeks.”
“It just feels incredible, and hopefully we can keep this going.”
Listless Valour performance compounds recent woes:
Winless in their last seven games heading into this one (0W-6D-1L), Valour could at least take solace in the fact that they’d had some very strong performances across that span, especially defensively, and had been more let down by a lack of cutting edge when it came to converting chances offensively.
More specifically, they had worked hard in every match, didn’t give away anything cheaply, and had arguably been unlucky to not have gotten more out of that winless run.
In this match, however, that’d be far from the case, as they just struggled to get any sort of control of this game.
On the ball, they were sloppy, as they struggled to adapt to the slick grass surface of Wanderers Grounds, and kept playing into the Wanderers midfield block, leading to some poor turnovers.
Then, off the ball, they struggled to close down space, were slow to react on most loose balls and ended up coming out on the wrong end of a lot of duels (which were 53%-47 in favour of Halifax on the night).
Even more frustrating for Valour was that they seemed to have no intent on wanting to correct their struggles as the game went along, seemingly content with going through the motions on the pitch.
“Early on in the season, in a lot of the games we’ve played, we’ve been in control,” Valour’s Dante Campbell said afterwards. “One thing about playing at this next level is being able to roll with the punches. Today we faced some adversity, but it felt like we could’ve dealt with it a little better, myself included.”
That was the toughest part for Valour’s head coach Phil Dos Santos to watch, as one of the biggest demands he always has from his players is to work hard and get involved, something he felt that far too many of his players didn’t do on the day.
“It wasn’t good enough today,” Dos Santos bluntly stated afterwards. “When you have one or two guys that don’t show up, as a coach, you can deal with it better, but today, I felt that it was collective today. We weren’t good enough, that’s all.”
It’s one thing to have a bit of bad luck go against you, or to be outplayed by an opponent who is playing well, but to be completely outworked will never end well in this sport, especially against a hungry Wanderers team that desperately needed a win.
Therefore, Valour will need to find a way to change that in time for their next game. Part of the reason that they’d entered this game as the team with the best defensive record came in huge part to their hard work and commitment off the ball, as well as the play of Rayane Yesli in goal. Yesli did his part once again, making five saves, but even he can only do so much when his teammates are allowing the Wanderers to walk right through them in front of him.
Dos Santos didn’t mince his words when talking about that after the game, and will now hope that his team can quickly take his message to heart as they get set to face Forge in their next match, in a game that will also not end well if these issues persist into next week.
“Sometimes guys get comfortable, and I feel that if you’re not willing to put the work to close down those extra five yards, and you arrive late to balls, and you think that that’s going to be enough, it’s not,” Dos Santos said. “The good thing is that I also passed a message to my players when I say these things publicly, and I feel that the next guy in line is ready to go if a player, or two, or three or five don’t show up (as they did today).”
“And today I felt that when we freshened up the team, I at least saw more fight in the guys that came in, and I saw more desire to make things happen, and I felt that the team got better a little bit, but overall, but it still wasn’t enough.”
“It was just not good enough today.”
Callum Watson leads a much-needed offensive surge for Wanderers:
Offensively, there was no doubt that the Wanderers have been playing well this season, at least aside from that actual act of putting the ball in the net.
Despite generating 10.44 xG, and being fourth in the league in touches in the penalty area with 158, and fifth in shots with 94, they’d only scored a league-low six goals, as they’d just struggled to breach the target in key moments.
Not only that, but they needed goals from more sources, too, as those goals had come from only four players – Théo Collomb, Zachary Fernandez, Aidan Daniels and Massimo Ferrin, all players who have typically played higher up the pitch.
Because of that, they’ll be happy to see who stepped up big for them offensively in this game – midfielder Callum Watson.
Sitting with just two shots in over 230 minutes coming into this game, his best work this season had more come through his passing and his defending than anything he was doing in the final third.
In this game, however, he changed that, more than tripling his shot total on the season by generating five attempts, two of which breached the target, while having another big chance that probably should’ve also gone in.
That was key for the Wanderers, as Watson’s late runs proved to be hard to track for Valour, who was already stuck worrying about Daniels, Ferrin, Fernandez and Tiago Coimbra in the attack.
Through Watson’s involvement, it helped the Wanderers immensely in the final third, as that extra bit of movement opened up pockets and gaps that they’d otherwise struggled to find in past games.
In particular, that led to an excellent performance from Daniels, who was everywhere in the final third, picking out dangerous passes and gliding past defenders.
Therefore, look for the Wanderers to maintain that going forward. Usually, in possession, they play a 3-5-2 of sorts on the ball, with the wing backs and the front two usually getting the most involved in the final third, with the other players typically playing a bit more cautiously.
If they can get one of those three midfielders to move forward on a more regular basis, however, that’d be a huge boost. Too often, they can play with a bit more of a defensive mentality, which while not a bad thing, can take away from the team’s ability to make more happen in the final third.
With someone with Watson’s work rate playing more of a box-to-box role, however, they can change that, so look for them to potentially lean on this tactic more often going forward.
“It’s just about the energy that he brought,” Gheisair said of Watson. “He wanted to work, he wanted to win, he wanted to fight. Yeah, he’s got the ability. he’s got the talent, but it was really about putting himself in key areas, both goals were scored from high probability areas, and he made those runs to get there, as his energy was fantastic.”
Especially as the always-dangerous João Morelli gears up for a return next month, they’ll have goals in this team, but will need to find a way to maximize those attackers’ ability to get those goals, which will require more faces stepping up to both score and open up space for their teammates such as how Watson did in this game.
“Yeah, obviously, it’s nice to get on the scoresheet,” Watson noted. “But the main thing is coming away with those three points. I don’t think it really matters who puts the ball in the back of the net, as long as we come away with those three points.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Callum Watson, Halifax Wanderers
Right from the first few minutes of the game, Watson was everywhere for Halifax, as he really imposed himself on this game. On the ball, he had two goals, five shots, one chance created and completed 34 out of 37 of his passes (92%), while off it, he had one interception and six recoveries, marking a strong performance from the 23-year-old English midfielder.
What’s next?
For the first time all year, the Wanderers will stay and play in Halifax for back-to-back weeks, as they get set to host Cavalry at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, June 17th (12:00 p.m. MT/3:00 p.m. AT). Meanwhile, Valour will head back to Winnipeg, as they prepare to host Forge at IG Field on Friday, June 16th (7:00 p.m. CT/8:00 p.m. ET).
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