Final Score: York United FC 1-2 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: León 44′; Moore 82′, 88′
Game of the 2024 season: 105
CPL match: 589

Match in a minute or less

Pacific FC are back in a playoff spot, as they defeated York United 2-1 in northern Toronto on Thursday night, coming back from a goal down for the first time all year for a potentially season-saving victory.

Despite a flurry of corner kick opportunities for Pacific in the first half, York opened the scoring moments before halftime with a corner of their own, Oswaldo León getting on the end of Jorge Guzmán’s cross.

With their playoff hopes fading in the second half, the visitors finally found their equalizer in the 82nd minute, as substitute Reon Moore got his foot on a loose ball from a corner. It was Moore, again, who scored six minutes later as Pacific hit quickly in transition to send two men in alone on the goalkeeper. Dario Zanatta squared the ball across to Moore, who made no mistake burying it into an open goal.

So, Pacific stunned York with the comeback victory, moving back into sole possession of the fifth and final postseason place (ahead of the rest of matchweek 27’s games). York, meanwhile, remain in fourth.

Three Observations

Pacific’s season saved by second-half explosion for quick comeback

With 10 minutes left to play, Pacific FC’s season was on the ropes. They trailed 1-0 in the second-last game of the year, knowing that they might be eliminated from the playoff race as early as Sunday afternoon.

Before this game, Pacific hadn’t come back to win from a losing position since July 30, 2022. Not anymore.

For a while, it had become a major problem for the club: once they fell behind, they struggled to change the momentum of a game and break down an opponent enough to claw back a victory.

Finally though, with everything on the line, the Tridents picked themselves up off the mat, thanks in large part to Reon Moore — more on him in particular later.

The first half of this game was, in some ways, a distillation of many of the frustrations Pacific have dealt with this year. They had most of the possession and got themselves into the final third with relative ease, but once there they were consistently unable to make anything of it.

Pacific had a litany of corner kick opportunities in the first half — 11 of them, in fact — none of which caused major threat to York’s goal. That’s why it was even more frustrating for Pacific that York’s first corner of the match, which didn’t come until the 44th minute, ended up in the back of the net thanks to León.

Head coach James Merriman, seeing similar patterns of attacking frustration in the second half, waited until the 67th minute to make his first move from the bench, but his substitutions changed the game dramatically.

Moore came in for Pierre Lamothe, and a few minutes later Adonijah Reid entered in place of Sami Keshavarz — both very attack-minded substitutions from a side in desperate need of a goal — and they had an instant impact. After such a set-piece-heavy first half, Pacific didn’t win their first corner in the second half until the 82nd minute, and this time Reid was on the pitch to play it across to Moore.

Pacific head coach James Merriman said postmatch that he was pretty happy with his side’s first-half performance, and didn’t want to change much after the break, instead opting to wait a bit and add some energy at the right time.

“I thought we were very good in the first half, and then to go into halftime 1-0, and to concede on a corner after we had 11 corners in the first half was a little bit difficult for the group,” Merriman said. “But at the same time we had confidence in the way that our approach was, the way that we played the first half. We didn’t want to change much to start the second half, we could stay the same and make a few changes.

“Then it was a big test, a big challenge to see if we had what it takes to come back in a game that we need to win. We knew we needed three points; a tie or a loss wouldn’t have been good enough for us. That’s what we came here for.”

They haven’t passed all their tests this year, but Pacific passed this one. Now, they’ll be hoping for Vancouver FC to drop points on Sunday against Valour; if they do, then Pacific will have their destiny in their own hands when they play Forge next Saturday.

Costly mistakes cause bitter defeat for York as likelihood of Pacific rematch grows

Football can be a cruel game sometimes, and it was for York United on Thursday. With 10 minutes left to play, they looked to be well on their way to a win that wasn’t pretty, but would’ve given them a huge boost up the table, putting them into second place.

Instead, they found those three points ripped from their hands by a quick pair of goals, and they’re left with nothing. York sit in fourth place with 39 points — one back of Atlético Ottawa and three back of Cavalry, both of which have yet to play in matchweek 27. Technically, York could still finish as high as second, but they would need a significant amount of help from other games, and of course they’d have to win in Halifax next week.

If both Ottawa and Cavalry win this weekend, then York will be locked into fourth place. That means they’ll host the Wednesday night fourth-versus-fifth match on Oct. 23. After this result, it’s looking increasingly likely that Pacific will be making another visit to York Lions Stadium for that playoff game — which would be a rematch (at the opposite venue) of last year’s matchup at the same stage of the playoffs.

In this game, York weren’t significantly worse than Pacific; indeed, it looked for a long time like they were going to win it. They did have a goal in the first half called back for a run that wasn’t actually offside, and Shola Jimoh was stymied in the second half by an outstanding point-blank save by Sean Melvin.

However, it was two lightning-fast moments that they weren’t quite switched on that made the difference between a win and a loss for York.

“Mistakes,” head coach Benjamín Mora said, identifying the problem on Thursday.

“Unforced mistakes, provoked by distractions, provoked by not being focused in the last, what? Fifteen minutes of the game? That’s what football is about, focusing 100 per cent and 100 minutes. We didn’t; we were distracted. We conceded in a set-piece second ball, and then from there we lost the ball in the build-up in our security zone, and the consequences are to get in trouble. We weren’t lucky enough to contain those situations, we lost the game. After 81 minutes fighting, versus a difficult team that came to win the three points, we were controlling a lot of the actions with difficulty but in a proper way. We weren’t able to finish the job.”

No matter what happens next week, York are going to host a playoff game. They still hold onto hope that it won’t be that midweek play-in game, but they nonetheless have confidence in their ability to go on a deep run.

York midfielder Elijah Adekugbe was asked postmatch if he had any thoughts on the prospect of seeing Pacific again in a couple of weeks, and he said he wouldn’t fear a rematch with the Tridents.

“Despite the result, I still have belief in the group against Pacific,” Adekugbe said. “I know with the way things are looking, now that they got the three points today, that’s looking like a more likely matchup. … But having played every team four times in this league, bar Halifax, I think we now know the strengths and weaknesses of every team. Every team in this league is a good team, but I feel like on our best day, we can beat any team.”

Reon Moore shines in crucial moment after frustrating season so far

Reon Moore was one of Pacific’s most exciting new signings of the last off-season, considering his track record of scoring goals, both at club level in the Trinidadian top flight and with the Trinidad and Tobago national team.

However, he hasn’t had the smoothest first year in the Canadian Premier League. He won a penalty in his first game for Pacific, recorded an assist in the second, and scored his first goal in the fourth match, but in game number five he was sent off against Forge and missed the next four games.

Since then, he hadn’t scored a goal for his club until this game. To add insult to injury, Moore was not called into the most recent Trinidad squad — which is why he was available for Thursday’s match in the first place. The Trinidadian national team actually played earlier on Thursday afternoon, drawing 2-2 with Cuba (with CPLers Andre Rampersad and Ryan Telfer both involved), but Moore had been left out.

Football can be funny that way, though; it was clearly a motivated Moore who came off the bench in the 67th minute, and although neither of his two goals will likely end up on a highlight reel, they were well-taken, composed finishes — especially the first one, smashing it in with his right on the half-volley from a deflected corner delivery.

Reon Moore finds an equalizer for the Tridents in the final 10 minutes, could we see more late drama in this one? 👀#CanPL | 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/5vdh9z0qBY

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 11, 2024

He also scored one with each of his feet, the mark of a goalscorer with good instincts who has the confidence to hit the ball at the right time rather than trying to force it onto his stronger foot and perhaps overthink the finish.

“I think he’d be the first one to tell you he’s a bit frustrated with his season,” Merriman said of Moore postmatch. “He came in with big expectations for himself, as did we. It hasn’t always gone his way, he’s been back and forth with the national team, and then to come in in this moment for him personally, and score two goals and help us, with the way it happened with Trinidad and everything, I’m really, really happy for him. He deserves the moment.”

This was a moment that Pacific, and Moore personally, desperately needed. Now, they’ll head into their final match of the year with confidence and belief that they can take down Forge and push their way into the postseason.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Reon Moore, Pacific FC

The Trinidadian striker might well have saved Pacific’s season with his brace off the bench in this match. With two goals in about six minutes, Moore was the main reason the Tridents were able to turn this one around.

What’s next?

Both teams, along with the rest of the Canadian Premier League, will be in action simultaneously in The Outcome! presented by TonyBet next Saturday, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. Pacific will be at home to host Forge FC, while York will be in Nova Scotia taking on Halifax Wanderers FC.

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