Finding their first three points and opening two goals of the season, HFX Wanderers beat FC Edmonton 2-1 on Saturday afternoon thanks in large part to a brace from Brazilian attacker João Morelli.

Despite the week off for the Wanderers, injuries still hindered their starting XI as Peter Schaale settled for a spot on the bench — an encouraging sign moving forward nonetheless — while Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, Eriks Santos and Jake Ruby were all held out of the squad thanks to injuries suffered last weekend against Cavalry. For the Eddies, Easton Ongaro once again missed out on a starting place in Alan Koch’s attack, with Tobias Warschewski preferred to lead the line from the off.

It was a top heavy team selected by Halifax assistant coach Mesut Mert filling in for the absent Stephen Hart, albeit much of the decisions weren’t autonomous with so many natural defensive options unavailable. Despite some initial struggles to deal with some high pressing from Edmonton, the number of forward thinking players in the team paid off early as Morelli scored the Wanderers first goal of the season in the 7th minute, slotting home a first time left foot finish following a great run and cut back cross from Morey Doner on the right flank.

Doner’s pace and directness down the right wing gave Edmonton headaches all afternoon and also allowed for Alex Marshall to tuck inside and give Halifax some added creativity in the middle — point and case the great pass he played into Morelli 10 minutes after the half time interval, ultimately leading to the Brazilian getting his brace courtesy of a powerful strike against the underside of the crossbar to increase his side’s lead to 2-0.

Edmonton’s love affair with long range finishes so far this season would continue on Saturday as Fraser Aird curled in his second goal in as many games. Aird combined neatly on a give and go with Warschewski to cut the Halifax lead in half in the 64th minute.

Koch would turn to his bench to try and find an equalizer in the late goings of the contest bringing on Ongaro among others, but the comeback bid would fall short as Cory Bent denied a second Eddies goal by clearing the ball off the Wanderers line behind a beaten Christian Oxner with roughly 10 minutes left to play.

Statistically, little separated the two sides in this one as both shots and ball possession were a near dead heat. In the end, it was the clinical showing from Morelli that made the difference as HFX Wanderers improve to 1-1-2 on the season, sliding past Atlético Ottawa and into seventh place in the CPL table in the process.

BOX SCORE

Goals

7′ —  João Morelli (HFX Wanderers)
55′ —  João Morelli (HFX Wanderers)
64′ — Fraser Aird (FC Edmonton)

Discipline

44′ — Yellow: João Morelli (HFX Wanderers)
84′ — Yellow: Hunter Gorskie (FC Edmonton)
90+1′ — Yellow: Morey Doner (HFX Wanderers)