Final Score: Halifax Wanderers 3-1 Cavalry FC
Goalscorers: Coimbra 6′, Daniels 62′, Collomb 84; Bevan (PK) 8′
Game of the 2023 season: 39
CPL match: 406

Match in a minute or less

The Halifax Wanderers continued to pick up steam in CPL play, as they beat Cavalry 3-1 at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, just a week after nabbing their first win of the season.

Pushed by that win, the Wanderers came out strong in this game, too, as Tiago Coimbra opened the scoring in the sixth minute.

That lead wouldn’t last long, however, as Cavalry responded with an equalizer via the CPL’s leading scorer, Myer Bevan, from the penalty spot in the eighth minute. From there, Cavalry would look likeliest to win, as well, sending an onslaught of chances as they tried to grab a lead.

Yet, doing well to hang on, that’d pay off for the Wanderers in the end, as Aidan Daniels pounced on a Cavalry defensive mistake to make it 2-1. From there, Halifax did what they needed to do to secure the win, which was only accentuated when Théo Collomb made it 3-1 with a great finish in the 84th minute, allowing his team to bring home all three points in the end.

Three Observations

Second half resilience from Wanderers allows them to grab another win:

Sometimes, teams have to find ways to win ugly.

Of course, if possible, teams will always prefer to win through dominance, but over the course of a long season, that won’t always be the case.

Because of that, it’s okay to win ugly sometimes. Ultimately, those who find a way to win those sorts of games do well in the standings at the end of the season, especially if they also win the games they should win.

Therefore, while this Wanderers’ performance might not have been quite like the one they put up a week prior, where they thoroughly dominated Valour from start to finish, they’ll be pleased that they got the win in the end.

In particular, they’ll have to be feeling pleased with how they managed to stick with it in the second half, doing well to survive an onslaught from Cavalry before grabbing two late goals to win the game.

“We’ve got to put it to bed while we have the momentum,” Cavalry’s head coach, Tommy Wheeldon Jr, lamented after the game. “I think that’s the difference today.”

Instead of sinking in the face of that Cavalry pressure, Halifax continued to defend, knowing that if they could get one chance to fall at the other end, that’d the game would be theirs.

That doesn’t mean that it was easy for them – far from it, as Yannick Fillion had to make a few big saves, while some key blocks and a bit of luck also helped the Wanderers, but they never let their heads drop.

Then, from there, a mistake from Cavalry led to the goal from Daniels, and with that lead intact, the Wanderers then found their way to end the game on a strong note on both sides of the ball.

“It’s just about staying patient,” Daniels said afterwards. “We knew that if we weathered the storm for 20-30 minutes, eventually the storm was going to go away. So for us, it was about staying patient, resilient and to keep working.”

As a result, they can now say they’ve won back-to-back games for the first time all season, and are all of a sudden right back on track after going winless in their first eight games, now sitting tied for fourth in the CPL standings.

Yet, this just shows how far they’ve come over those 10 games. Earlier in the year, they might’ve led their heads drop after their sixth-minute opening goal was cancelled out less than two minutes later, or might’ve succumbed to all of that second-half Cavalry pressure.

Instead, they found the victory in the end, showing how this young and inexperienced group has started to gel into a really solid unit under head coach Patrice Gheisar.

Having spent a lot of the early part of the season learning valuable lessons, they’re doing well to put those lessons into practice now, and this win is a great example of that.

“There are going to be times where we need to let the opponent have the ball, but still stay in control of the game,” Gheisar explained. “We knew as the game went on, we were going to get stronger and that they were going to drop off, even with their subs coming in, so I felt we did a really good job managing the moments today.”

Lack of finishing haunts Cavalry again:

After scoring a season-high three goals in their win over Vancouver last week, Cavalry entered this match eager to build off what they showed in that commanding offensive performance.

A team that felt like they had another gear to hit offensively, especially given some of the attacking talent that they’ve got in their ranks, it feels like it should not be uncommon to see them scoring goals at that rate on a more consistent basis.

Yet, after taking that step forward in that one, they then took a step backwards in this game. To start the game, they looked to be on the right track, as the CPL’s leading scorer, Myer Bevan nabbed his sixth of the season with a great penalty early on, before he and his teammates really started to pepper Halifax’s goals with attempts.

Because of that, it felt like another multi-goal night was going to be on the cards, if not more, as Cavalry did well to funnel several attempts toward Halifax’s goal.

Despite that, however, it wasn’t to be for Cavalry. They came close on several occasions, as Charlie Trafford struck the woodwork, Ali Musse had several glorious chances and Goteh Ntignee could’ve had a second half goal, but in the end, they just couldn’t get that second goal to fall.

“I’d have liked us to have gone ahead and got that second goal that we needed, as we had the chances and we had the momentum,” Wheeldon Jr said. “But we didn’t pull the trigger, and that’s what’s cost us.”

Plus, even more concerningly, they continue to struggle to score goals in the second half, too,  as just four of their 14 goals have come in the second stanza this season.

Given how aggressively they play, it puts a lot of emphasis on needing to score their goals early, because if not, they can sometimes run out of gas in the end.

Of course, there are a few factors that haven’t aided them, namely their continued injury struggles, as well as how early it is in the season, but it’s still something worth watching as the campaign progresses.

At this stage of the season, Cavalry will feel that they should have far more than two wins on the board, especially given that they’ve also had six draws.

That doesn’t just fall on the attackers, as Cavalry has also conceded 13 goals, the second-most in the league, but there’s no doubt that there have been moments where their attackers could’ve taken certain matches out of reach to alleviate pressure on their defenders.

This wasn’t the case for this match given how close it was, of course, but one can only wonder what a second-half goal could’ve done for Cavalry, who are instead left to ponder what went wrong for them in just their second loss of the season.

“We can’t keep saying that we’ve got a really good attack if our attack can’t finish,” Wheeldon Jr said. “And then we can’t keep saying we’ve got a really good defence if we’re coughing up goals like that.”

“So for the most part, again, we’ve had a very good performance, but it’s those fine margins that are hurting us, and that’s what we need to get over.”

Offence beginning to click for Halifax at the right time:

It had been the big question after eight games for Halifax – when would the goals start falling for the Wanderers?

Given that they were one of the best teams in the league in most chance generation metrics, it was surprising to see that they’d only scored just six goals through eight games, and had only scored more than one goal in a game once.

Especially given that those goals had only come through four players, it felt like this team had a few more players who could be chipping in the attack with more regularity.

Fast forward past these last two games, however, and things are starting to look a whole lot better for Halifax in that department.

Having put up a pair of multi-goal efforts in those last two games, including a season-high three in this game, it feels like they’re finally starting to find their feet offensively now.

In particular, they’ll have to be happy to see the goals come from different sources, too. After Callum Watson chipped in with his first two goals of the season in last week’s win, this game’s offerings came from all over, both from the usual suspects as Aidan Daniels nabbed his second of the season and Théo Collomb his third, but also a new face, as Tiago Coimbra opened his CPL account early on in what was a bright performance from him.

That’s key, as a big part of Gheisar’s tactical identity is that he wants his team to be very fluid on the ball, which requires everyone to be on the same page in how they attack.

“Yeah, I think that with the quality we have you know, we want goals to come from everywhere,” Daniels said. “Left wing or right wing, our #9s, elsewhere.  That we had three different goalscorers today, it only attests to what Patrice has instilled in us – it doesn’t matter who scores, as long we win the game.”

It hasn’t always been easy for his team to grasp those concepts, as they can take time to learn, but as seen over the last few games, the payoff can be big when it all clicks.

Now, he’ll hope that his team can keep those goals flowing, and have them come from across the lineup, showing why the Wanderers were so eager to bring in an attacking coach like him this offseason.

“When you build this kind of philosophy, you start with working on goal kicks, to your build-up, to your midfield play, and then lastly is the attack,” Gheisar explained. “And I know it’s been frustrating for everyone that hasn’t seen our attack yet, but when you built it like that, your system has more sustainability.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Yannick Fillion, Halifax Wanderers 

It feels strange to highlight a goalkeeper in a 3-1 game, but Fillion was immense in this match. In fact, he was pretty much perfect, as while he conceded a goal, that came off a perfect penalty that he had no chance on.

Plus, he made several huge stops, including some when the game was tied 1-1, finishing with six saves on the day, playing a crucial role in Halifax’s win in the end.

What’s next?

Halifax will head out on the road for a midweek matchup, as they face York United on Wednesday, June 21st at York Lions Stadium (7:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. AT). As for Cavalry, they’ll be back in action next weekend, as they host that same York United side in Calgary at ATCO Field on Saturday, June 24th (3:00 p.m. MT/5:00 p.m. ET).

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