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MATCH ANALYSIS: Halifax Wanderers beat Atlético Ottawa 1-0 for fifth straight home win
July 24, 2023
Canadian Premier League

Final Score: Halifax Wanderers 1-0 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Collomb 24′
Game of the 2023 season: 63
CPL match: 430

Match in a minute or less

The Halifax Wanderers won at home for the club-record fifth time in a row on Sunday, beating Atlético Ottawa 1-0 at Wanderers Grounds.

It took over 23 minutes for the first shot of the match, but the Halifax Wanderers made it count. Dan Nimick played a perfect long pass down the pitch, which was met by the charging Théo Collomb. While running toward the Ottawa net, Collomb volleyed the ball and sent it into the bottom right corner, hitting the inside of the post on the way in.

That would be the only goal in a match that didn’t produce a ton of scoring chances for either side. Halifax jumped over Ottawa in the standings with the victory, moving up into a playoff spot, and one point ahead of the capital city club.

Three Observations

One streak continues and another ends as Halifax beat Ottawa at home

Sunday’s victory extends a club-record home winning streak for the Halifax Wanderers, who have now won five matches in a row at Wanderers Grounds for the first time in their history.

Head coach Patrice Gheisar, in his first year with the club, made it well known before the season kicked off that one of his missions was to make Wanderers Grounds a fortress again for a Halifax side that had a disappointing 2022 season, and with this run, he is living up to that promise.

A 1-1 draw with Vancouver FC and a 3-0 loss to York United preceded this brilliant run of home form from the Wanderers. Their 16 points at home now leads the Canadian Premier League, despite playing the fewest home matches (seven) of any CPL club.

The passion at Wanderers Grounds from fans and players alike is also noticeable, and seemingly on the rise as the good times keep going. When players were being subbed off or lining up for set pieces, for example, they were turning to the crowd, throwing their arms up in the air, and asking for even more noise to continue to push them forward. Every single time it was met with a loud roar from those dressed in blue.

The loudest cheers of the day might have come in the 83rd minute, when Canada international Doneil Henry checked into the game for his Canadian Premier League debut. A buzz grew as he started to warm up, and when his name was shouted over the PA system, the supporters recognized the magnitude of the occasion and responded with a standing ovation.

“I think it’s obvious for everyone in the league, we have the best fans,” said the goalscorer Théo Collomb after the match. “We have to respect that. Once we’re on that pitch we give it all, we show them we love them too.

“Even after everything that happened in the city, everyone showed up to support for us,” he added, referencing the extreme weather and flooding that saw this match postponed after originally being scheduled for Saturday. “We had to give [that effort] back, and I think we did.”

While a good streak continues for the Wanderers, one ends for Atlético Ottawa. Coming into this match, Ottawa had won three matches in a row to start the month of July, seeing them quickly rise up the table, but with Sunday’s defeat, that comes to an end.

They have the chance to start a new winning streak next Saturday at home, when they host the high-flying Cavalry FC. Playing against the team in first place is never an easy task, but Ottawa will take some comfort that they too have won several matches in a row at home, and also beat Cavalry on the road on July 12.

“You can’t read into results too much,” Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham said after the match. “We’ve got three wins in a row, and then we come in with a game plan today and it doesn’t quite work, and then we’ll reset for the next one. Each one you adapt to your opponent and then you keep your own identity, and that’s what we’ll do for Calgary.

“Winning three of four is a good stretch for us. It’s disappointing, we’ve had a lot of success coming to Halifax since I’ve been with the club — first time we’ve come here and not won. That’s disappointing, and we get 12 hours to be sad about it, we wake up in the morning, and we move on with our lives.”

Ottawa can’t get attack going, spend a lot of time in their own half of the field

One of the reasons for Ottawa’s recent upturn in form was an ability to play very effective attacking football in phases of matches, but in this game that didn’t really come together for them.

The game plan, as it often is when they play on the road, was to focus on defending well, before hitting Halifax on counter-attacks. Against a Wanderers side that likes to keep hold of the ball and play on the front foot, this presented an interesting tactical matchup, but not one that Ottawa won in the end. There were a few instances where Ottawa were able to win the ball back and go the other way up the pitch, but they weren’t nearly frequent enough. Ottawa’s 2-0 win over Cavalry FC a couple of weeks ago is a prime example of how good they can be in transition, and they won a regular season title a season ago on the back of playing like that.

In the first half in particular, Halifax dominated possession of the ball with 63.1% of it, and spent much of that time in Ottawa’s half of the pitch. They didn’t do a lot with that possession — getting just two shots away in the first 45 minutes, one of which was the game’s only goal — but as Wanderers attacker Théo Collomb said — if they have the ball, that means that their opponent doesn’t.

“We knew that Ottawa is a team that loves to sit, wait, and take the counter — they’re very good at that,” Collomb said afterwards. “They have some fast players, they have Bassett who plays very well on the ball and makes the great decisions when they’re on the counter.

“We knew we had to take care of the ball, we knew we [couldn’t] make mistakes because they’d get punished. We were trying to get them tired as much as possible and keep the ball as much as possible, because when you have it you don’t defend, so it’s even better.”

When they did win the ball back, there were some lapses in concentration when trying to break out from the back that left Ottawa frustrated. There were a few incidents where a pass would be attempted, but the person playing the ball wouldn’t get their angle right, or the person receiving it would take a heavy touch or something similar to immediately give possession back to Halifax.

The Wanderers also did a good job of pressing Ottawa to try and win the ball back quickly, never really letting them get a rhythm going.

“We didn’t start as well into the game, I think that Halifax were with a spark that we didn’t have in those first 45 minutes,” said Carlos Gonzalez about his Ottawa side after the match. “I thought that it was quite an equal game, that it was decided in probably a thing that we can improve on, how we defended that situation.

“In the second half I thought we were a little bit better than them, as they were in the first half, but we didn’t have the tools to break them and we didn’t feel comfortable enough in the field today.”

Ottawa will take on Cavalry again in their next match, at TD Place this time next Saturday. Cavalry may line up slightly differently after the addition of standout winger William Akio, who caused them problems last season while he was a member of Valour FC.

That match in the nation’s capital will be a big opportunity for Ottawa to put in a statement performance in front of their home fans, and against the league leaders.

“At the end of the day, what we have to do is go home and recover,” Gonzalez added. “We’ve been here a few days in Halifax, we have to go back home and after the recovery and after resting a little bit, think about the next game which is going to be a tough game against the leader of the CPL — a team that we played a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s going to be an important game for us, at home with our fans, so looking forward to do a good game and recover the good feelings so we can grab points.”

Nimick’s vision and Collomb’s finishing combine for Goal of the Season candidate

There are good goals, and then there are great goals — fortunately in the Canadian Premier League we have been fortunate to have plenty of both through the first few years of the league. The goal Halifax scored in the first half of Sunday’s match belongs firmly in the latter category.

After receiving a pass near the halfway line, and with no pressure from the Ottawa defenders, Wanderers centre-back Dan Nimick had space to set his feet and fire a long pass forward into the Ottawa penalty area. His searching ball was inch-perfect, finding Théo Collomb, who was charging into the area after seeing Nimick start to line up the pass. Collomb met it with an equally-impressive volley, sending the ball into the bottom-right corner of Nathan Ingham’s goal, striking the inside of the post on the way in.

Everything from the pass to the shot was well-executed, and will surely be in contention for the Goal of the Season come the end of the 2023 CPL season. The fans at Wanderers Grounds certainly seemed to agree, sent into a frenzy as Collomb wheeled toward the corner in celebration, finishing it off with a knee slide right in front of them.

“You can tell [Nimick] was lining up to hit a diagonal, and Diego [Espejo] was following his mark, and just followed him a bit too much and didn’t have time to get back,” said Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham after the match. “Even if the spacing was perfect, the ball was a peach and then he takes it first time.

“I saw it develop, gave Diego a shout and then got set on the shot. My timing was perfect, my angles were perfect, and it’s a great goal… that’s not saveable. I was happy with everything about it, and credit to him.”

The first half didn’t see many scoring opportunities, Collomb’s shot was one of just four in the first half — and the only one on target. The goal would prove to be the game-winner as well, earning the Wanderers a fifth-consecutive win in front of their home supporters.

“What a goal,” Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar said with a smile on his face after the match. “Dan hit that exact same ball, as you may recall, against Forge, but it was deeper and [Massimo Ferrin] had to take a brilliant touch and score.

“To hit that first time, my goodness, then off the post, it’s brilliant — well done Dan, well done Théo. The key is looking at everything. If Callum [Watson] doesn’t make that run, if Rampy (Andre Rampersad) doesn’t come lower, Dan doesn’t go higher, it doesn’t happen. Credit to our players for their ability to have the tools, but also meeting the plan.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Dan Nimick, Halifax Wanderers

The Wanderers centre-back assisted the winning goal with a stunning pass down the pitch in the first half, and put in his usual strong defensive effort. He is putting himself into the conversation for Defender of the Year, if he isn’t already the frontrunner.

What’s next?

Atlético Ottawa are back at home next weekend, hosting Cavalry FC at TD Place on Saturday (7 pm ET/5 pm MT). The Wanderers will head to Ontario as well, visiting York United at York Lions Stadium on Sunday (2 pm ET/3 pm AT).

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