Final Score: Halifax Wanderers 1-1 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Nimick 90+6′ (PK); Salter 90+2′
Game of the 2024 season: 77
CPL match: 561

Match in a minute or less

The Halifax Wanderers and Atlético Ottawa split the points in a chaotic match at the Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, as both teams traded late goals in a 1-1 draw.

After a quiet match, Ottawa opened the scoring in the 92nd minute, as Sam Salter fired home with a deflected right-footed strike from inside Halifax’s box, giving his team what seemed to be a valuable late winner.

Despite that gut punch, however, Halifax did well to respond shortly after, as Andre Rampersad won a penalty just minutes later, one that Dan Nimick coolly converted in the 96th minute to ensure his team would split the points on the day.

Three Observations

Cagey match yields surprise late fireworks as both teams chase key wins:

For 90 minutes, this game appeared destined to head towards a draw, as both sides struggled to break the other down.

Unless a goal were to come out of nowhere from a moment of magic, it was hard to see a scenario under which either side could find a winner, having done well to cancel the other out with strong defensive performances.

Then, that all went out the window in a five minute span in added time, however. Perhaps due to some tired legs, or a desire to want to win given what’s at stake for both teams, they found life late in extra time, and things opened up.

Fittingly, that led to Ottawa’s 92nd minute goal, which came on a dangerous counter-attack. It might not have been their most dangerous chance of the game, but after knocking on the door in the second half, they’ll feel it was a deserved reward, as they’d outshot Halifax 8-6 up to that point, and had looked to be the likelier team to score.

Despite that, the Wanderers will have felt hard-done by when they conceded. While Ottawa had been knocking on the door, the Wanderers had done well to keep things tight, as they didn’t allow a chance over 0.11 xG until the goal, and even that was only a 0.15 xG shot from Salter.

Because of that, they kept at it, and were able to get a draw, one that on the balance of things felt like a deserved result, especially given that the game had felt destined to finish that way until Ottawa’s marker.

Yet, this was a prime example of what games can be like at this time of the year, where the stakes get raised for all of the teams. With so much on the line, from title races to playoff battles and more, each game can take on the feel of a playoff game.

There, tactics can go out the window, and it can become a battle of wills. For a second, Ottawa had looked to have won that battle, but then the Wanderers showed that they won’t go out quietly, picking up what won’t just be a crucial point in their race to make the playoffs, but a momentum-boosting point given the positive emotions they’ll feel after getting a late goal in front of their home fans.

Now, however, the key will be for both to build on this game, using their contrasting emotions to fuel them going forward. Ultimately, a point doesn’t do much for either team’s current aspirations, which for Ottawa is to get back into first place in the table, and for the Wanderers it’s to get into a playoff spot, but this game could serve as a catalyst for both teams to fulfill those ambitions going forward, and they know that.

“Every one of these games is a playoff game, and I felt that today,” Wanderers head coach, Patrice Gheisar, said after the game. “I don’t know if (everyone) felt it, but it felt like a playoff game (for us).”

Dan Nimick ensures strong Wanderers defensive showing doesn’t go to waste:

As mentioned earlier, it was a near-perfect defensive performance for the Wanderers, who despite facing one of the most dangerous attacks in the CPL, were able to keep them quiet for most of the game.

Be it in terms of shot volume, or chance quality, the metrics show that this was a good defensive showing from the Wanderers, who did what they needed to in order to keep Ottawa at bay.

In particular, their defensive line and midfielders put in a big shift, staying compact and organized, playing aggressively and limiting space for Ottawa to get in behind them. It wasn’t always easy, as Ottawa can be dangerous on the counter, but Halifax did well to get numbers behind the ball when Ottawa did push, and Halifax made sure that all of Ottawa’s attempts were contested by several bodies in the moments where they did get free enough to fire off a shot.

Because of that, one can only imagine what was going through their minds when Ottawa got their goal. Having done well to get bodies behind the ball on a dangerous Ottawa counter, it seemed for a second that Halifax had done enough to shut down that attack, only to see the ball deflect in off one of their defenders.

Much like the week prior, where they were leading Valour 1-0 only to score an own goal that sparked a 2-1 Valour comeback, it had to have felt like a moment of horrible luck for them to see Ottawa score a goal that the Wanderers will have felt was avoidable and a self-inflicted wound.

Especially after such a strong defensive showing, that will have stung the Wanderers, who will have felt they did enough to keep what could’ve been a valuable clean sheet up until that point.

“Soccer is like that one, one second can change the whole game,” Wanderers defender, Zach Fernandez, explained. “We were good (defensively) for 89 minutes, but a soccer game is 90 minutes, so we need to stay concentrated until the end, we’ve conceded a lot of late goals, and we’ve got to stop that.”

Yet, in a sense, it makes what happens next so valuable. Instead of letting their head sinks en route to what could’ve been a massive loss, one that could’ve all but extinguished their playoff hopes, they were able to battle back, with two key defensive actors from this game stepping up in a big way.

First, there was Andre Rampersad, who made his return to the lineup after a personal absence, and his presence was immediately felt in this game. Through that, it helped Halifax be more sturdy defensively, especially on counter-attacks, allowing them to concede one or fewer goals for the first time in five games.

More known for his defensive work, however, he stepped up big to help win the spot kick, providing a key late moment for his side.

Then, there was the work of Dan Nimick on the penalty itself, as he had put up one of his finest defensive showings up until Ottawa’s goal. Having been the one to score the own goal in the Valour loss, he wanted to come up with a big performance in this game to put that behind him, and he certainly did that, as he was a key presence in his own box defensively.

On the goal, however, he showed once again what he can do offensively, however, as he stepped up to take the penalty, converting his seventh spot kick of the year in CPL play on his eighth attempt. For a defender, that’s an impressive record, as it can be tough to be able to consistently be able to hold one’s nerve from the spot, but Nimick showed that he was able to do just that in a key moment.

With that, he was able to ensure that the Wanderers strong defensive work from the day didn’t go to waste, and that they’ll now have a moment to build off of going forward.

Therefore, while this draw might sting in the meantime, knowing that they badly wanted a win, they’ll be proud of the fight they showed defensively on the day, as well as on the late goal.

“You’re feeling like you’re not getting bounces, you feel like you’re not getting luck, and I disagree, none of those things exist,” Gheisar explained. “But the easiest solution is to not put your foot that (certain) way, you cannot take your eye off the ball. When that (late goal) did happen, for sure, our instant reaction was, ‘Oh my, here we go again.”

“They had one chance we saved off the line, but other than that, our defending was superb, especially the first half. We limited opportunities, it felt like a boxing match with a lot of jabs, and anytime there was an uppercut, we defended it well.”

Tired Ottawa legs run out of gas after near-perfect road performance:

Sometimes, how one feels about a certain result in a game can very-well depend on how a match actually plays out.

For example, Ottawa will have every reason to be pleased with grinding out a draw from this game, especially after a tough week of travel that saw them go from Vancouver Island to Halifax in less than a week.

To then go out and draw a game despite dealing with that, showing good fight in the process, and it’s hard to feel too frustrated about leaving with only one point instead of three.

At the same time, that sentiment usually goes out of the window when one relinquishes a lead, especially as late as Ottawa did, which is understandable.

Naturally, that also shows why they are where they are in the table – title-winning teams know the importance of not dropping points from leading positions, as well as being able to grind out tough road wins, and Ottawa’s frustrations afterwards seemed to reflect that.

That frustration will only be echoed by how the game played out, too. Up until that goal, Ottawa had otherwise been crafting a masterful defensive performance.

Not only that, but they were doing something that road teams often struggle to do, too, and that was to control the tempo of the game. In particular, they did a great job of slowing down the game and disrupting the Wanderers possession game with fouls, as they had 22 fouls to the Wanderers 12 on the day.

Ultimately, they paid a price for doing so, as they earned five yellow cards and could’ve perhaps even earned a few more, but that was a trade-off they were willing to make given how they were able to direct the games tempo to their liking.

That was key, as their defensive play paved the way for them to turn a cagey road draw into a key road win, knowing that the likes of Rubén del Campo, Sam Salter, Ollie Bassett or Ballou Tabla could break open the game at any moment. Turns out, a combination of del Campo and Salter would do the trick in this one, as they combined for Ottawa’s goal, which was nearly enough to win.

On another day, it might’ve very well been enough, but that wasn’t the case in this game, much to Ottawa’s frustration.

“I think that we did a great game today in tough conditions,” Ottawa’s head coach, Carlos González, said. “The team is playing for everything, because these are some of the last chances (to get points), and I thought we deserved to win.”

Now, however, the key for Ottawa will be to use this frustration and to build off it. Ultimately, that they were that close to grinding out the win after the week they had is a sign of what they can do at their best, so they’ll look to bring that again in their next game, while ensuring they do what they can to get the game over the line in the end of that one.

“Travelling in this league is not easy,” Salter said. “We played Pacific (last week) and then we have to go all the way to Halifax, that’s not easy, so we knew we had to be compact, not concede a lot of chances, and we did that for most of the game.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Dan Nimick, Halifax Wanderers

Dan Nimick was lively for the Wanderers at both ends in this one, with his late equalizer being his brightest moment, even if his best work came defensively.

That’s reflected in the numbers, as he finished with 56 out of 72 completed passes (78%), two shots, nine passes into the final third, 10 out of 14 completed long balls, two tackles, one block, four clearances, six recoveries and 10 out of 13 won duels in a complete showing from the Wanderers centre back at both ends.

What’s next?

The Halifax Wanderers will remain at home for their next game, as they get set to host York United at Wanderers Grounds in a Labour Day clash on Monday, September 2nd (3:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. AT). Meanwhile, Atlético Ottawa will return home to host Vancouver FC at TD Place on Saturday, August 31st (4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET).

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