Halifax and Cavalry duel to hard-fought draw | MATCH ANALYSIS

Match in a minute or less

The Halifax Wanderers and Cavalry FC came away from the Wanderers Grounds on Saturday with a goal and a point apiece in a hard-fought 1-1 draw.

The hosts opened the scoring in just the eighth minute through Tiago Coimbra. They held that lead until the 69th minute, when substitute Caniggia Elva finally found the breakthrough for the visitors.

Cavalry remain in second place, and are now unbeaten in their past nine matches in all competitions. Halifax stay in third, and end a two-match losing run with the draw.

Three Observations

Halifax Wanderers defend their fortress well, but have to settle for a point against relentless Cavalry FC

The Wanderers came into Saturday's match against Cavalry FC with two big goals: score first, and use that to prevent the opportunities that the visitors could create in transition. Those were, they felt, the two biggest factors in their 3-0 loss to Cavalry when the two sides met at the Wanderers Grounds back in May.

After finding that early goal in the eighth minute, it was a bit of a different approach from the Halifax Wanderers to their usual possession-heavy style, as they sat back in a more compact defensive shape to defend their lead.

Through 45 minutes especially, the Wanderers were exceptional defensively, taking away any lanes for Cavalry to play through them, especially in the final third. They limited one of the league's best attacking teams to just 0.02 expected goals, and no shots on target.

In the second half, some tactical and personnel adjustments from Cavalry allowed the visitors a little bit more joy in attack -- and brought them a lot closer to the Halifax goal.

Less than a minute into the half, Sergio Camargo cut the ball back past Rayane Yesli to give Tobias Warschewski what looked to be a wide-open net, only for Halifax defender Adam Pearlman to clear the ball off the line.

There was a lot more of that sort of desperation defending from Halifax in the second 45, as Cavalry threatened throughout the half before finally equalizing in the 69th minute. They showed great defensive commitment, however, working tirelessly to get in front of and clear dangerous opportunities.

The Wanderers will be frustrated with that one significant error defensively on the sequence leading to the goal, off of a clearance right through the middle, and then allowing Camargo to uncork a shot from distance before Caniggia Elva got not one but two shots from point blank in the box.

Still, it was a strong outing on the defensive side of the ball for the Wanderers. They did particularly well at limiting the effectiveness of Tobias Warschewski and Ali Musse, the two players who really hurt them in their meeting earlier this season.

In a match where they couldn't claim all three points, they showed a good ability to hold on late for an important single point to snap a two-game losing streak.

Coimbra leads impressive Halifax Wanderers press

A big part of Halifax's defensive success on Saturday came from their ability to defend from the front.

From the first minute, the Wanderers' attacking four of Ryan Telfer, Tiago Coimbra, Jason Bahamboula, and Giorgio Probo pressed the Cavalry backline relentlessly.

"They ran like dogs, man," said Wanderers' head coach Patrice Gheisar, "I mean they really put in a shift. I was really, really happy with them. The work they did was incredible."

Coimbra had several big slide tackles in the opening moments of that match, letting Cavalry's defenders feel his presence. His outstanding work rate through the early part of the match caused the Cavs all kinds of issues, as they couldn't establish any sort of rhythm or tempo when building out of the back. Telfer, meanwhile, won possession three times in the final third.

It was Coimbra who opened the scoring in the eighth minute on a great run in behind and the ability to take down a long ball from Isaiah Johnston and round Marco Carducci before slotting home his team-leading fourth goal of the season. In his 73 minutes on the pitch, he also won seven of 12 contested duels, and made two tackles.

"It's my style of play, I just want to make sure that all the defenders that I play against in this league they know they're going to have a tough time," said Coimbra. "It's not going to be easy for them."

With injuries to Bradley Kamdem and Tom Field, plus Mihail Gherasimencov just returning from international duty, Cavalry deployed central defender Levi Laing at left back. Primarily a right-sided player, any time Laing got on the ball, Jason Bahamboula stepped forward from the right wing and took away his space, forcing him backward on many occasions.

Below is a look at all the defensive actions from Halifax's front of Coimbra (9), Probo (27), Telfer (7) and Bahamboula (14), showing just how well they won the ball back in important areas of the pitch.

Cavalry FC's in-game adjustments allow them to earn a point on the road

With more of their weapons back after the conclusion of the international window, and that certainly came in handy when they found themselves chasing Saturday's game in the second half.

Needing to mix things up, Cavalry made a trio of substitutions, to go with a few tactical adjustments, between the 57th and 67th minutes.

First, it was bringing on Mihail Gherasimencov, fresh off international duty with Moldova U-21. With him going to left back, that freed up Levi Laing, who had deputized at the position due to availability, to move to his more natural central defensive ability and push Eryk Kobza further forward into midfield.

Then, they brought on Caniggia Elva and Nicolas Wähling, pushing Sergio Camargo back into a more holding midfield role alongside Kobza and then Elva up into a front-two with Tobias Warschewski.

That latter substitution had an instant impact, as just two minutes later, Camargo, in a space at the top of the box on a failed clearance, hit a strike off the post. Elva was there in the middle to latch onto the rebound, and after his first effort was denied by Yesli, equalized with his second.

The match was yet another example of the array of weapons that Cavalry possess, and how they have used those exceptionally during this nine-game undefeated streak in all competitions.

In the end, Cavalry will be content with the four points they were able to take from the Wanderers Grounds over the two matches. That is a strong record considering they are the only visiting team to win at the Grounds in the past 15 matches when they did so back in May.

What They Said

“The thing about this league is if you don't win, you don't lose. Every point matters. And I just highlighted that to our guys, that my first year, which was our record year, we finished tied for second and we had nine draws. So you don't want to draw, we don't want that result, but in Week 27 that may be a huge point we got.” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar

“I thought the boys played with a ton of courage in the second half, and the changes we made with the subs had an instant impact. That's all you can want for as a manager.” -- Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Isaiah Johnston, Halifax Wanderers

The Halifax midfielder put in a tireless shift on Saturday, including assisting on his side's goal. He won possession ten times during the match and made six clearances -- covering a ton of ground in the midfield.

What’s next?

The Halifax Wanderers continue a three-game homestand with a match against Vancouver FC next weekend on Saturday, June 21 (3 p.m. AT).

Cavalry FC, meanwhile, are back at home next weekend where they host Pacific FC, also on Saturday, June 21 (4 p.m. MT).

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