Wanderers drop points in cagey 2-1 home loss to league-leading Pacific FC

The Halifax Wanderers are left wondering what could have been this week—and for more reasons than one. In front of a sellout crowd at the Wanderers Grounds, in a tense match between the Canadian Premier League’s second- and fourth-place teams, the Wanderers fell 2-1 to visiting Langford, BC side Pacific FC in a Natal Day duel that was chock full of both scoring chances and controversy. Twice on Monday, the Wanderers landed on the unlucky end of neglected penalty calls that, on another day, might’ve—indeed, should’ve—been called in their favour. Instead, the Wanderers finished with a trio of yellow cards and find themselves in sixth place with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

“We were getting these little things, but I don’t think we manufactured enough for me to say we deserve a tie,” Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar told reporters after the match. “We knew [Pacific] would come in, but we’ve got to take care of business… we can’t be chasing [playoff seeding] in the last game of the season.”

Refereeing decisions cloud result in close contest

The tenor of Monday’s match was set in the 44th minute when Wanderers winger Massimo Ferrin broke into Pacific’s 18-yard box. Centre-back Dan Nimick had sent Ferrin deep into PFC’s corner with a looping diagonal pass that put him one-on-one with Pacific fullback Kunle Dada-Luke. Ferrin beat Dada-Luke and charged into his opponent’s box, but not before the defender’s outstretched leg tangled between his own and brought him to the ground. The Wanderers bench called for what looked like a penalty. Instead, referee Yusri Rudolf handed Ferrin a yellow card for simulation.

Here’s the moment @HFXWanderersFC would like to have back yesterday—an apparent foul in PFC’s box that, rather than resulting a penalty for Halifax, ends in a yellow card for simulation. #CanPL pic.twitter.com/Xrdg2wdus3

— Martin Bauman (@martin_bauman) August 8, 2023

The call was met with disbelief by Ferrin—and by much of the crowd, who responded with boos. Minutes later, Pacific FC earned a 1-0 lead after Tridents centre-back Thomas Meilleur-Giguère lunged at the Wanderers’ goal line to volley in a floating shot by striker Easton Ongaro.

“We have to own it and understand that, for whatever reason, we’re never going to get a penalty in Halifax,” Gheisar said after the match. “I think someone’s head has to be cut off to get one.

“We had a real, real opportunity, which—for whatever reason—we didn’t get the penalty. I’d love to understand how the world works with penalties. Someone has to explain it to me. And then… they came down and scored that set piece goal in the 47th minute. You flip that scenario, I think we’ve got a different game.”

Credit where it’s due: Pacific FC was the better team for most of the 90 minutes played. Pacific midfielders Manny Aparicio and Sean Young consistently caused problems for the Wanderers’ defense—and in the 54th minute, the visitors added to their goal tally when Aparicio found winger Josh Heard unmarked in the Wanderers’ box to make it 2-0.

“They’re a great team; you can’t take anything away from them,” Gheisar said. “They were contesting everything.”

The Wanderers shifted the game’s momentum in the 61st minute with a trio of subs: Armaan Wilson, Riley Ferrazzo and newly-announced signing Jordan Perruzza, brought in on loan from Toronto FC, came on and immediately provided a lift to the trailing Wanderers. Perruzza won a corner kick within minutes and nearly scored in the 69th minute after dribbling past two of Pacific’s defenders. In the end, it was Nimick who headed home a corner kick from teammate Wesley Timoteo to cut Pacific’s lead to 2-1 with 11 minutes remaining. The Wanderers’ attack continued.

“I think the team showed good character to get back into it,” Nimick said after the match. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.”

Halifax again appeared to draw a penalty in the 90th minute—this time, as Perruzza fell to the ground in Pacific’s box after goalkeeper Emil Gazdov made contact with the back of his head during an aerial challenge. A call wasn’t awarded.

After the match, Wanderers goalkeeper took to Twitter to call on the league to introduce a video assistant referee (VAR) system—technology that has been used in other professional soccer leagues to review close calls and ensure they’re correct.

@CPLsoccer VAR maybe?

— Yann Fillion (@YannFillion41) August 7, 2023

Earlier in May, it was reported that all eight CPL clubs expressed support for trialling a scaled-down version of VAR, which would allow for things like goals and penalty scenarios to be reviewed. Speaking with The Coast’s Wanderer Grounds podcast after the match, however, CPL commissioner Mark Noonan suggested that it won’t happen yet.

“We’re talking about it,” Noonan said. “There’s a lot of pros and cons. You ask a lot of leagues that have VAR, and they want to get rid of it. We’re considering, do we do VAR? Do we do VAR for certain things, whether it be an obvious goal-scoring opportunity or reviewing a red card?”

Noonan pointed to the cost barrier of implementing VAR technology that requires multiple cameras broadcasting from different angles:

“We’ve proactively increased our salary cap this year… We added two U-18 roster spots that don’t count against the roster. Do you want to spend money on that as a developing league, or do you want to spend money on VAR? There’s tradeoffs that we have to make, but believe me, we’re considering all these things, and we’re trying to be really thoughtful about it.”

Tight playoff race remains for Wanderers

With Monday’s loss to Pacific FC, the Wanderers have 6 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses. The Halifax club sits tied on points with both Atlético Ottawa and York United, and behind the top three of Pacific FC, Calgary’s Cavalry FC and Hamilton’s Forge FC. Five CPL clubs will make the 2023 playoffs—but both Ottawa and York currently hold a tiebreaker over Halifax due to more wins. That leaves the Wanderers with the task of climbing up the standings with 10 games remaining—and doing so while needing to fulfill the league’s 2,000 minutes quota mandated for U-21 players this season. (Halifax has met 937 of those 2,000 minutes, and will need to play its youngest players for roughly 107 combined minutes per match for the rest of the season in order to be eligible for the playoffs.)

Halifax has a chance to do just that on Saturday, Aug. 12, when the club hosts last-place Vancouver FC. Kickoff is at 4pm.