Wanderers end 2024 with a win. But now, with a long off-season ahead, the real work — and post-mortem — begins.

The Halifax Wanderers season has been one of near-wins, road woes and red cards punctuated by sunny afternoons and shimmering nights at the Wanderers Grounds. And although, with their club eliminated from playoff contention, it took fans on Saturday some time to acclimate to their lot in life, they cheered on their team as they capped off 2024 with a convincing 2-1 win over York United FC.

Given the context, Halifax's victory was pyrrhic in nature: they had started the season with serious trophy aspirations but were the first CPL club knocked out of the playoff race. Their away form, which earned them a meager six points, all but guaranteed they had no shot at competing for the CPL Shield. Expectations built on the back of 2023's success means that, from afar, there's no way to view this year as anything but a lost season.

But there's hope to be taken from their win over York United, a statement of sorts before heading into a long break. The message, which was pronounced in the Wanderers' locker room before the match and then on the pitch, was simple but significant: the 2025 season has already begun.

"It started today," captain Andre Rampersad told Not The Wanderers Grounds podcast when asked about next season. "You look at the previous games where we were up and we lose it in the end. Today, we spoke about it before the game. The next season starts today and I think, you know, the guys showed it. We stuck it out and got the 2-1 win."

Head coach Patrice Gheisar echoed a similar message in his media availability.

"We targeted this game as a way to start our 2025 journey with a seven month head start," he said.

One of the positives Gheisar noted was his squad's performances at the Wanderers Grounds. The club finished the season with six wins, six draws and only two losses at home, good for second best in the league. The Wanderers hadn't lost at home since May.

Another positive to take from Saturday is the fact that several young players played key roles. Goalkeeper Aiden Rushenas earned his first professional win. Tavio Ciccarelli made his debut. And striker Tiago Coimbra, whose season has been hampered by injuries, was critical in securing the three points, beating York keeper Thomas Vincensini in the 82nd minute.

“That’s what this league is about,” said Gheisar when asked about his young players. “And you know, when you look at the average age, we’re the second youngest team in the league, and I’m really proud of the players’ development coming along. To see Tiago come on and score, other young players like Tavio got his debut tonight, so it’s great to see that. I think this really has to be about young players being mentored by the right veterans.”

The Wanderers tried to find the right mix of players this past off-season. Some, like striker Christian Volesky, were decidedly the wrong fit. And others, be it Vitor Dias, Kareem Sow or Julian Dunn, saw limited time due to injuries.

The question now, heading into what will be a critical off-season, is which players will the club bring back? And do some players even want to come back? Given that their contracts are up, it's entirely possible that Dan Nimick, Lorenzo Callegari, Yann Fillion and Zachary Fernandez — arguably the bulk of the core of Gheisar's Wanderers — have played their last match for the club.

When asked about the future, Gheisar said the club will be assessing their next moves in the coming weeks.

"We have to make some decisions. Some players are moving on to different teams, as every team does, to start a journey and we'll look for additional young players that can come in and help the core," he said.

A tricky line the club will walk is about how widespread their re-tooling should be. Only last year, the club brought in 18 new players and again cycled through several new faces in 2024. Tweaking the roster inevitably leads to it taking longer for the squad to gel, something the Wanderers are all too familiar with after undergoing the worst start in CPL history this year.

Speaking to reporters, attacker Massimo Ferrin stressed the runway needed to build connections on the pitch.

“The more we play together, the more chemistry we build,  the more we understand each other,” he said. “It takes time to build those relationships, and I think as the season’s gone on, you’ve seen that we got more comfortable playing with each other."

Both Gheisar and Ferrin highlighted the club's away form as an area of improvement. But ultimately, with a slow start two years in a row now, it's apparent that the Wanderers need to find a way to speed up their acclimation process.

"I think we put ourselves in a hole early and just felt like we were chasing the whole year," explained Ferrin. "You know that you can't win the league in the first couple weeks but you can put yourself in a difficult spot going forward if you don't do a good enough job of picking up points early."

Given what it meant to their season as whole, Halifax's victory on Saturday was relatively unremarkable. But for the coaching staff and players, some of whom will be looking for larger roles next year, it represented the first steps towards an improved 2025 campaign.

And if they're really honest about what went wrong this year, they'll have the opportunity to address it in the off-season. Fans will have to wait until April to know if they got it right.

Further reading:

• HEALEY: The Halifax Wanderers were eliminated on Saturday. But it’s not the squad that played at ATCO Field that lost them their playoff spot.
• Injuries have hampered Tiago Coimbra’s sophomore season. But with two matches left, he’s ready to embrace the Wanderers’ biggest challenges yet.
• Developing the next Maritime Messi: How the football pyramid, bit by bit, is being built in Nova Scotia

Cover Photo Credit: Trevor MacMillan / Halifax Wanderers FC