Wanderers left searching for answers on four-match skid
Halifax Wanderers captain Andre Rampersad wasn't pulling punches following a disappointing 2-1 loss to Vancouver FC on Monday: the club's current form, he said, was shameful.
"We've got to look ourselves in the mirror, starting with me, being the leader of the of the team, and we've got to keep fighting. I think, in the season, sometimes, you hit a dip," he told reporters. "I think we've got to be ashamed of this (skid); four in a row we've lost now, Vancouver came to us and took a full three points in front of our crowd and it's very disappointing."
Rampersad mentioned the need to feel ashamed multiple times in his availability which, given the Trinidad and Tobago international's usual unassuming demeanour, hit like a two-footed tackle to the back.
Yet there's something more poignant voiced in the Wanderers' long-time captain's words: after the best start in club history, it feels like Halifax are spinning their tires. They're still comfortably in a playoff spot. But more is expected of the group both internally and externally given their work and rhetoric this off-season.
It's important to note that the Wanderers have played well for stretches of their winless run. Their performance last weekend versus Forge FC likely deserved more and saw multiple players at the height of their powers. Against Pacific FC, too, head coach Patrice Gheisar's squad showed resiliency to climb out in front before falling 3-2 at Starlight Stadium.
However, the Wanderers set a standard for themselves earlier this year that they're failing to meet. They have three wins and one draw across their last 10 matches for 10 points, the same amount they earned through their first four matches of 2025.
The context of Monday's Natal Day loss also deserves scrutiny given Vancouver FC — a club riddled in turmoil on and off the pitch — flew across the country to play at the Wanderers Grounds. They hadn't won since May 3. And their eight points heading into the weekend represented a historic Canadian Premier League (CPL) low for points per match.
Josh Healey
But Vancouver FC proved homewreckers, landing in Halifax with a clear plan to sit deep and invite pressure so as to nullify long ball threats played to Tiago Coimbra or Ryan Telfer. Newly minted Eagles head coach Martin Nash said post-match he wanted to be compact and his players delivered as the Wanderers, despite having the bulk of possession, struggled to generate clear scoring chances.
"They did well to kill the momentum of the game," said Rampersad. "But there was still opportunities where we picked off the ball a couple times and should've been better with the quality in the final third. We just kind of turned it over or slowed down again and they went back into their shape and stopped us from doing what we should've been doing."
And when Vancouver FC centre-back Matteo Campagna banged in his first CPL goal in the dying minutes of the first half, you could feel the temperature at the Wanderers Grounds go up a few degrees. The fact that Vancouver FC scored only minutes into the second half added insult to injury.
Not that the Wanderers gave up; Gheisar made multiple substitutions before the 60th minute to boost his squad, including playing his two speediest players — Yohan Baï and Jason Bahamboula — out wide to stretch the game. Vitor Dias also made his way onto the pitch and filled space as an attacking midfielder.
The Wanderers looked like they'd gotten onto the board in the 77th minute as a ball deflected in the box to Telfer, who took a touch before volleying it past goalkeeper Callum Irving. However, the goal was ruled off-side, with the ball appearing to be deflected by a Wanderer. But the replay showed that the ball struck Campagna before bouncing to Telfer.
"I think that's an inexcusable mistake. I think the way the mistake happened was very, very difficult to understand. The linesman did not call it. Then the head referee told the linesman it's off-side because the linesman didn't raise their flag," said Gheisar post-match.
"That's as big of an error as I've ever seen in this league because of the miscommunication."
Like his captain, Gheisar said his squad needs to do better, saying that the off-side call isn't the reason they lost.
"We've got to work harder, we've got to score first, we've got to defend better, we've got to manage the game better and that's it. One game at a time. That's all we can do right now. You can't look at the past, you've got to look at the next one," he said.
"Look, when you're behind the game, any team, including us, will put more defenders in the box. We have to do those things earlier in the first half. We can't be doing them in the second half because Vancouver's going to drop players (deep). Okay, you're going to get chances, there's 11 players in front of you. If you do that earlier, it's only five guys in front of you. So, we need to be more consistent in producing chances."
The Wanderers ended the match with 15 shots. The issue, of course, is the fact that despite almost all of them coming inside the 18-yard box, only three were on target, with the rest being blasted high or wide. Halifax dominated possession but produced only 1.35 expected goals to show for it. They have to do better if they're to end their skid.
Interestingly, neither of Halifax's two No. 10's that began the year strongly — Sean Rea and Giorgio Probo — were selected as starters for this match. Probo didn't even feature on the matchday squad as, sources told HFX Football Post Monday night, the club is working to cut ties with the Italian midfielder.
Gheisar said he's going to continue to challenge his attacking midfielders, noting Probo's absence as a "tactical decision," and rotate them until one of them gets hot.
"Sometimes, the person you trust to start the game is really important but the person you trust to finish the game is probably even more important. We have to create competition. So, today, you saw Telfer as a 10, earlier you saw Sean (Rea) and Probo, but then Vitor (Dias) came in and we tried Baï today as a 10. Right now, I think our leading goal scorer as a 10 is Ryan Telfer, I think he has three goals, but he took some sets as a No. 9. We're going to try to continue to challenge them and rotate them until we find one that's hot and ride the hot one," explained Gheisar.
Rea came on in the 70th minute and helped change Halifax's attack with his ability to wiggle into spaces and deliver for teammates. His creativity set up the Wanderers' lone goal with a fantastic trivela pass into the box, which was ultimately scored by Thomas Meilleur-Giguère in the 89th minute. But it was too little, too late.
Is starting Rea — or another one of the club's attacking midfielders — the answer? Would dropping one of Telfer or Coimbra to the bench allow for more creativity? Or is the issue that Halifax's defence, although not giving up many chances, seems to concede at the most inopportune times?
Whatever the answers, the Wanderers will want to find them quickly as they prepare for road trips against Pacific and Cavalry FC. They're still comfortably in a playoff spot. But the coaching staff and players know they need to find a way to end a streak that risks derailing the best start in club history.
Cover Photo Credit: Trevor MacMillan / Halifax Wanderers FC
