York United kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday afternoon at TD Place, as Atlético Ottawa drew 1-1 with the Nine Stripes in their final home match of the 2021 season in a very entertaining ComeOn! Match of the Week.

With suspensions to regular contributors Diyaeddine Abzi, Jordan Wilson, and Isaiah Johnston, York boss Jimmy Brennan was forced to rotate his squad a bit, as 17-year-old Matteo Campagna made his first start for the Nine Stripes at centre-back while regular attacking phenom Max Ferrari moved to play at fullback in lieu of Abzi. Ottawa, meanwhile, rolled out many of the players that have been reliable starters for them, including Ryan Telfer, Alberto Soto, and striker Malcolm Shaw — who was honoured by the Ottawa faithful before the match as their supporters’ player of the year.

Atlético Ottawa looked up to the challenge immediately, moving up the pitch quickly and creating a number of early chances. They found their breakthrough in just the 15th minute, as Zach Verhoven brought down a long ball on the right flank and sent it centrally to Antoine Coupland. The teenage local product cut in to the top of the box quickly and fired in a shot that deflected off Campagna and froze goalkeeper Nathan Ingham to roll into the net.

Facing pressure after 25 minutes, York made an early substitution, as Brennan opted to bring Michael Petrasso out of the contest in favour of Sebastian Gutíerrez. The substitution seemed to spark York’s attack a little, as they at last started to establish some possession, but they couldn’t find the net in the first half and headed into the locker room with work to do for the second half.

Just 20 minutes into the second half, though, Brennan made another substitution, as he brought young striker Lowell Wright into the game near the 65th minute, taking Gutíerrez back out after about 40 minutes of work. Wright was good out of the gates, though, as his runs into the box caused immediate problems for the Ottawa defence. Looking to fight their way back into the game and give their playoff hopes a massive boost, they began surging forward.

Finally, after several waves of possession, York found their equalizer on the second phase of a corner kick with just 10 minutes to go. Ottawa appeared to have cleared the set-piece away, but York won it back and Noah Verhoeven found himself in space out wide. He delivered an excellent ball into the box, and Chrisnovic N’sa smashed it home with a header to score a massive goal for the Nine Stripes’ playoff hopes.

Both sides came exceptionally close to scoring the winner in the final 10 minutes — Wright put a shot from outside the box off the crossbar just moments after York’s first goal, and Zach Verhoven drew an excellent reaction save out of Nathan Ingham at the other end — but neither club could find the goal they needed.

With a point, York moved into a tie for fourth place in the standings alongside HFX Wanderers, although they remain outside the playoff picture with one fewer win.

BOX SCORE

Goals

15′ — Antoine Coupland (Atlético Ottawa)
80′ — Chrisnovic N’sa (York United)

Discipline

9′ — Yellow: Michael Petrasso (York United)
65′ — Yellow: Milovan Kapor (Atlético Ottawa)
72′ — Yellow: Cédric Toussaint (York United)
82′ — Yellow: Ryan Telfer (Atlético Ottawa)