Halifax Wanderers beat Vancouver FC 4-0, set club goal scoring record in their first win of the season

The Halifax Wanderers had been in this position before, had worked hard to get ahead in matches against Atlético Ottawa and Forge, but for whatever reason, couldn't get their first win over the line. So when captain Andre Rampersad was sent off in the 68th minute with a red card Sunday night, up 2-0 to a Vancouver FC squad playing at home, it was only natural that the ghosts of matches past — and of points squandered — came to mind.

They had been in this position before. And they had crumbled, be it in the 93rd or 101st minute.

But on Sunday night, the Wanderers took a first step in re-writing the narrative around their season, going on to score two more goals while a man down. They set a club goal scoring record, putting four behind Vancouver keeper Callum Irving. They kept a clean sheet for only the second time in 2024. And, perhaps most importantly, they closed out the match to earn their first win of the season in emphatic style.

Speaking to reporters post-match, head coach Patrice Gheisar admitted he, like anyone else who has watched the Wanderers this year, started having flashbacks when Rampersad was sent off.

“I swear, I don’t know what I did in a past life, or what I’ve done to have that kind of emotional roller coaster, but it felt like Ottawa with how things were happening," said Gheisar. “But what resilience from our group to come back and score two more after the red card."

Like their earlier draws against Atlético Ottawa and Forge, the Wanderers started their match at Willoughby Park with a purpose, getting the better of a rotated Vancouver FC squad early. A long ball from defender Julian Dunn bounced fortuitously to Clément Bayiha, who was making his second consecutive start, and the 25-year old drove towards goal. He managed to slip a perfect pass to a streaking Ryan Telfer, whose left-footed shot beat Irving nine minutes into the match.

Less than 10-minutes later, Telfer again scored, rocketing a shot far post to put Halifax up 2-0.

Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi opted to make early changes to reset the board, taking off T.J. Tahid in the 32nd minute for veteran Alejandro Diaz. He also brought on Gabriel Bitar at half-time for David Norman Jr. Overall, Vancouver's play improved in the second half, finding some joy on the left side of the pitch, but their attack proved unable to crack Wanderers keeper Yann Fillion.

The match was turned upside down in the 68th minute as Rampersad was sent off for a high boot, putting the Wanderers down a man with over 20-minutes left to play and Vancouver buzzing.

However, Dan Nimick's set piece goal killed any momentum the Eagles had built, putting his side up 3-0 in the 77th minute. A late penalty goal in extra time by the 23-year old defender put the final exclamation point on Halifax's performance, securing their first win of the season and a club goal scoring record.

The result, said Nimick post-match, should serve as a breakwater moment.

"It’s no secret that we’ve struggled for goals, but I think now our guys are flying,” he said. “We’ve got Clément (Bayiha), Massimo (Ferrin) and (Ryan) Telfer up front, Jérémy (Gagnon-Laparé) in midfield, and then if you look at our bench, I think it’s one of the best benches in the league with Giorgio (Probo), Vitor (Dias), who has been playing well the past few weeks, as has Giorgio coming off the bench, we have Riley (Ferrazzo), too, (Aidan Daniels), I mean, they’re all incredible players, we have incredible depth, so we’re not talking like a last place team, our confidence is through the roof, and now we’re just looking to build off it.”

Ghotbi and his squad certainly had their chances on the night, registering 13 shots and three big chances, but lacked concentration at times. Both defender Rocco Romeo and Ghotbi told reporters the result was unacceptable and, for whatever reason, they could feel something was off at the beginning of the match.

“I said it in a warm up, and I think a couple of guys echoed it, as well, we were just flat,” Romeo said. “I’m not too sure if it was our preparation in the week, or if it was our mentality coming into the game since they were the last place team and we took that for granted of it with us being undefeated at home and maybe we carried that arrogance into this game.”

Ghotbi said by not being switched on in the opening minutes his squad allowed balls to squeak through and become goal scoring opportunities for a desperate team.

"When you go down 0-2 to on your own home pitch, they haven't won a game, you're just giving them more and more steroids and vitamins," he said.

With the win, the Wanderers and Valour FC are tied on the table. Despite being level at seven points a piece, Halifax has a match in hand. They are eight points out of the last playoff position, which is currently occupied by Vancouver FC.

The Wanderers next play at the Wanderers Grounds against Cavalry FC on July 1.

From the Notebook

1. It took longer than anyone could have imagined but the Halifax Wanderers have finally won a match in 2024 and, for all the doubt and frustration surrounding the beginning of their season, did it in style. Gheisar was visibly buzzing as he met the media, taking in a well earned result. He answered a number of questions about pressure and spoke at length about the resiliency of his group. And as he has multiple times this season, Gheisar brought it back around to the importance of perspective: "If you think about it, is this our first win or are we undefeated the past four games? It just depends on how you're looking at the scope. And I've said this: you cannot let the bad first six weeks influence a good week. I think this is about resilience. It's really made us enjoy football more than ever before and work harder and harder on the things we need to do."
2. As mentioned above, Gheisar admitted to thinking about past results — or lack thereof — when Rampersad was ejected and I think it's only natural given Murphy's Law has been in full effect for the Wanderers this season. And speaking to reporters, Gheisar said Rampersad was devastated to get the red card because of the position it put his teammates in. I think Halifax's performance after the fact speaks to the hard lessons they've learned this season but also how much they respect their captain: they didn't want him bearing the weight of another late match collapse. Gheisar added he felt Sunday was Rampersad's best match under his tenure.
3. To shift things over to Vancouver FC for a moment, Ghotbi delivered some of the most pointed comments I've heard by a head coach in the CPL. What's interesting is he didn't scream or shout but his words were a salvo across the bow of every player under his watch.  "The performance, was for me, unacceptable and very disappointing," he said. "I could have substituted eight players at the beginning. Maybe three players were playing and the rest were just bystanders. That's, for me, very unacceptable. Everything we did went wrong and everything they did went right. Sometimes, in football you have those days. For me, we can make mistakes, we can have bad games but you need to bring a certain mentality from beginning to the end. We didn't bring that and I feel for me it's unacceptable. I have to now really look at the heart and souls of my players and decide which players really want to do this."
4. An interesting but short note: when asked about some of Ghotbi's tactical decisions, including moving centre-back Allan Enyou into the No. 6 position, Romeo refused to offer his comments when asked about his opinion on the new formation. Obviously, Romeo was displeased to be on the losing end on Sunday but there seemed to be something he didn't want to say publicly. I'll leave you, dear reader, to extrapolate.
5. I asked Gheisar post-match, in a perfect world where Julian Dunn doesn't get hurt, what his plan had been for Nimick's return, which has been a topic of conversation for some weeks. "Our plan was to continue to prepare Dan with the minutes the game would dictate. I certainly did not plan for Julian to go down or for Dan to come in that early. Hopefully, Julian's okay, that's the first thing," he explained. "Second, I was really proud of Dan being there and coming in right away to assert himself and scoring a goal." There was no update on Dunn or Zachary Fernandez, who left injured in the second half.
6. As Nimick spoke on behalf of the players, I asked him what's it been like to be on the outside looking in as he is clearly someone who eats, breathes and sleeps football. "It's been frustrating for me," he said, adding he'd previously never picked up an injury in his career. "If you look at who you have starting in my absence in Julian (Dunn) and Cale (Loughrey), they're two of the best centre-backs in the league. I just want to say again the depth we have on this team is incredible. It's definitely been frustrating how close we've been getting and seeing it slip, it feels like I was on the pitch. I was feeling those emotions." Bit of a funny moment but Nimick made a point of saying it was nice to get a goal in open play as he felt he was getting a reputation as a penalty merchant. "Now the guys can stop giving me stick because I've got one off open play as well," he joked.
7. It's unfair to Telfer that I've come this far down my notes without acknowledging him as he was as good as could be expected. He ended the night with a brace but easily could of completed the hattrick with the chances he had, especially in the first half. There were certainly some doubts around him to start the year, especially after he missed all the pre-season matches aside from one, but he's rounded into form nicely for club and country (he had a great showing for Trinidad & Tobago while on international duty). One of his best assets is his ability to sniff out a chance, to anticipate the flow of play and position himself just so. It's an art, something that attacking players are constantly honing, and Telfer has it even if I don't think he's best served as a No. 9. Another thing that impresses me about Telfer is his ability to beat players one-on-one. There was a moment in the first half where he collected the ball on the right hand side of the opposition's box, a defender between him and goal, and suddenly — like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat — he was on the other side of the defender and off to the races. With his brace, Telfer now has four goals this year across all competitions.
8. There are a lot of outfield performances I'd like to touch on (Wesley Timoteo, Cale Loughrey and Massimo Ferrin were all excellent) but I think it's important to again acknowledge Fillion's night. He's now had three matches in a row where I thought he was excellent and if he can continue to round into form, the Wanderers will be well positioned to make some noise moving forward. 18 matches remain; how many points can they pick up now that they've exorcised some demons?

Further Reading:

• Riley Ferrazzo has always believed in his abilities. Now, in his second pro season, he’s finding his groove for the Wanderers
• Tickets, coach shopping and contracts: An inside look at the Halifax Tides’ path from launch party to matchday
• Dan Nimick is becoming the leader the Wanderers desperately need

Cover Photo Credit: James Glezos / CPL