For a second, one could only wonder if some old habits might creep in.
Having gone up 2-0 against Pacific FC, the Halifax Wanderers looked likely to cruise to a comfortable victory, giving the packed crowd at Wanderers Grounds plenty to cheer about in their 2025 home opener last Saturday.
Then, Pacific scored in the 71st minute, and the seeds of doubt crept in. Given that the last time they played Pacific, they conceded a 96th-minute equalizer that all but sealed their playoff fate last fall, it looked like the stage was ripe for another Pacific comeback.
Certainly, as Pacific started to grow into the game, it felt like that was the inevitable outcome.
Or at least, that’s what would’ve happened to an older iteration of the Wanderers. Not this group, however - they had to navigate the rocky waves for a few minutes, but eventually withstood the Pacific push, and sealed a memorable 3-1 victory thanks to a 96th-minute goal from Yohan Baï.
Thanks to that, they ensured that the fans who packed a newly expanded Wanderers Grounds would go home happy.
“Without all of the fans, it would have been way harder, they pushed us to get through that phase where it was 2-1,” Wesley Timóteo, who scored the Wanderers' first goal in this game, said afterwards. “With the addition of more people, we knew right away that the stadium would fill up; they can add as many as they want, and I know people are going to show up, and we couldn’t thank them enough for that. We know that we're going to have them behind us the whole season, so every game is going to be special.”
Yet, credit has to be given to the Wanderers for adapting as they did in this match. In the past, they might’ve been guilty of not adjusting their game plan up a couple of goals, but they made some key late adjustments, such as the insertion of Andre Rampersad, Tiago Coimbra and Alessandro Biello while the game was still 2-1.
Without those fresh legs, Pacific’s late push might’ve overwhelmed them - instead, they stood strong to the task and got the job done.
Having already navigated some early choppy waters in this game, as Pacific came flying out of the gates before the Wanderers grew into the game and scored their opener in the 19th minute, and then nearly squandered that lead before half time, they knew that a late push was just another key moment to manage.
“Like we've shown in the past few games, we've shown a lot of maturity,” Timóteo said. “We know we're going to suffer at some points, so we went through that phase, and at half time, we knew we had to change, (we did that) and we showed a lot of energy in the second half.”
This is what the new-look Wanderers are about, however.
Not much has changed with them philosophically -- they still want to dominate possession, and aim to entertain -- but there’s a certain maturity about them that showed up in this win vs. Pacific and a comeback win vs. York the week prior.
After conceding a league-high 43 goals in last year’s campaign, they’ve entered this year with a clear commitment to being better defensively. Armed with a new-look high press and a more sturdy 4-4-2 defensive block, they’ve built that solid foundation early, even if they don’t have the clean sheet to show for it yet -- although only conceding four goals through three games is a good start.
“I said this in interviews (when I was hired), that it was going to take three years to get to where we are today, where we're comfortable without the ball,” head coach Patrice Gheisar said after the Pacific win. “In most football matches that you watch, there are shifts, football can switch like that; in a moment, it all changes, so we're a lot more comfortable surviving the ups and downs and saying, okay, we'll take a jab, but when it comes down to it, we're going to give you the uppercut, because we have a lot of speed, we press well, and we counter well, and that gives our opponent a problem, the longer they hang on to the ball, the more places that open up to counter against them.
“Our team last year, everybody we played against, they countered against us, so now, we're able to give our opponents a different look.”
Of course, to implement a gritty identity like that, it requires buy-in from the players, and Halifax have certainly gotten that from this group.
It’s easy to get players to want to attack with vigour, but it’s never as easy to convince players to press higher, or be more applied defensively.
With this group, however, Gheisar hasn’t had that problem. Having added some important leadership thanks to the signing of Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, who has won a North Star Cup with Pacific FC, that has been a perfect boost to an already-tight-knit group, one that has fully committed to everything Gheisar has done so far.
“It all started in preseason,” Timóteo said of his team’s growth. “First of all, the vibe (is good), we all get along together, you’ve seen the celebrations, we dance, we have fun with everyone, and it all starts there. We want to fight for the guy next to you. We also have more experienced players this year, too, Lorenzo (Callegari) has stayed in the league, we have Thomas Meilleur-Giguère who has already won the league, we have Rampersad who has been here for seven seasons, Ryan Telfer has taken a bigger role this year, he’s a leader, he’s been a captain, and those experienced guys don’t let the younger guys get too ahead of ourselves.”
Because of that, look for these Wanderers to keep bringing that togetherness to future games, especially at home, where they’re going to want to do everything they can to win for their fans.
Even if that means winning ugly, at the end of the day, that won’t matter, as long as they make the playoffs.
Plus, it’s not as if they’re going to sway away from the Wanderers' way, either - this side still wants to entertain the fans, even if they’re more willing to roll up their sleeves and get into the fight when called upon.
“Our supporters love to see grit, fight and a positive attitude, so when they see every player work off the ball, they love it,” Gheisar said. “The magic of football -- that gets everybody excited, but we also want to give them a complete game, we defend, we attack in transition, we stop transitions, and we attack.”
“Being at home, we're able to do all of that, because with less travel, you have more energy. Then, most of the crowd were standing from the beginning; when they were pressing us, people were still cheering for us, knowing that we were waiting for a moment.”
