'I believe in this team': Wanderers lose against Valour, fall to bottom of the table
The media room at the Wanderers Grounds — like most of the pop-up stadium's facilities — is located inside a shipping container. It's a cramped space, with a few scattered chairs and tables, but large enough to host the Wanderers' communications staff, a cameraperson and on Monday evening, two reporters following a 2-1 loss to Valour FC.
Interviewed post-match, Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad spoke levelly about a match — like so many in recent weeks — that ended in defeat, the club's fifth loss over the last month. And like the leader he is for the club, Rampersad turned his lens inwards and demanded better.
"I think as a leader on the team, I have to try my best to go for perfection," he told reporters.
"When I look at the first goal, I think I should have cleared the ball but I tried to play it in the midfield and then they come down and they score. It's tough when those kind of things happen because I like to lead by example."
Another quirk of the Wanderers' media room is that it's located directly beside the visitor's locker room. During a Wanderers win, you'll be hard pressed to know there are over 20 opposing players, coaches and staff a few feet away. But on Monday, the sounds of Valour's victory celebrations — their first in what has been a trying season, including a marathon eight away matches across all competitions — could be heard clear as a bell. Both the Wanderers and Valour came into Monday's Victoria Day match in similar situations: plagued by injuries, struggling for consistency and winless. The sounds of Valour's winning, and how much it meant to them, made Halifax's loss all the more striking.
Rampersad credited Phil Dos Santos and his squad for a deserved win but said he knows the Wanderers need to create more in the final third.
"I think we're not scoring enough so we're not really putting teams under pressure and that's got to come from every player on the pitch. We've got to dig ourselves out of it," said Rampersad.
The Wanderers have scored three goals through five regular season matches, the lowest goal total in the league. At times, they've looked dangerous but too often seem indecisive closing in on the opposition's box, prone to backing off or whistling in crosses without a target. And there's an element of luck — or lack thereof — to their woes as they've hit woodwork a dizzying four times already this season. Digging deeper, it's easy to say the Wanderers have deserved a better fate offensively as their xG of 1.32 (as per footystats.org) ranks amongst the best in the league.
They certainly had their chances versus Valour. A beautiful drive inside from Massimo Ferrin led to a shot off the crossbar. Later, with the score tied, wing-back Wesley Timoteo had an opportunity to put his side up but his low shot was stopped by Valour keeper Darlington Murasiranwa.
As has been the case most of this year, the ball just isn't going into the net for Halifax and a lot of that has to do with confidence. Valour was also a club short on confidence but all it takes is one duel or one extra step or one extra chance to reset the table and build some momentum. Post-match, Dos Santos called his club's win a response to weeks of adversity.
"Today, we feel we got that," he said. "For me, that's something we'll always ask and will always give us a chance. It's a good day for us but we're far from the objectives for the team. We need to keep working and keep pushing."
Valour forward Jordan Swibel, who scored the game winner in the 74th minute, said it all comes down to hard work and confidence, which is easy to say but harder to do.
"That's what football is — it's momentum and confidence. We've got one more game on the road so we'll take the momentum from this and bring it to Cavalry next week." he said.
Meanwhile, the Wanderers seem to have lost all the momentum they may have gained from their recent draw against Cavalry. Their struggles haven't been without reason as star midfielder Lorenzo Callegari has been suspended and many of their attacking players have battled injuries early on this year.
Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar owned the loss and said the best thing to do right now is to get right back in the fray, their Friday match against York United being only a few days away.
"We really have to do some soul searching. We have to go back. I think this York game may be exactly what we need with a short turnaround against a very good team that just came off a great result against Cavalry," said Gheisar. "When its not working, the best thing you can do is just jump at it again."
One phrase Gheisar returned to in his availability, time and time again, was that he believes in his players.
"I believe in this team," he said.
Cover Photo Credit: Trevor MacMillan / HFX Wanderers FC
