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Fri, Mar

Hart steers HFX Wanderers to CPL final.
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Former T&T coach Stephen Hart has led the HFX Halifax Wanderers FC from a last-place finish in the Canadian Premier Soccer League in 2019 to the championship match of the 2020 season dubbed "The Island Games" at the University of Prince Edwards Island Artificial Field, Charlottetown, Canada against Forge FC.

In the grand finale on Saturday, Hart will look to two of his countrymen to lead the way on the field of play with second-year player Akeem Garcia, the league's top scorer with six goals while midfielder Andre Rampersad is co-captain.

On Tuesday last, HFX Wanderers FC, having earlier in the day cemented a spot in the final were humiliated 5-0 by Pacific FC with

Marco Bustos netting two goals and adding two assists for the Tridents

Despite being The Island Games’ lone dead-rubber tilt, Tuesday’s contest ended Pacific’s much-improved 2020 season on an exceptionally high note – one coach Pa-Modou Kah will gladly build upon for the 2021 CPL campaign.

While the margin of defeat for the high-flying Wanderers may have come as a surprise to many, coach Stephen Hart was not too worried having made nine changes to the starting line-up that beat Calvary FC on Sunday, inclusive of T&T's Akeem Garcia, the league's top scorer with six goals and his country and club captain Andre Rampersad.

Following the drubbing, former T&T and Canada men's national team coach Hart was asked if his side might’ve struggled out of the gate to focus on the match at hand, perhaps thinking a little too far ahead to Saturday’s final.

“I didn’t think so, but after the first half, you’d probably have to say, well, yeah,” Hart admitted.

“It’s kind of one of those situations where you don’t know till after the game. Everybody warmed up well, everybody seemed to be ready for it, but we were second best to nearly everything in the first half.

We were too far away from players in our columns, couldn’t get a foot in, and then when we got the ball we made too many mistakes in and around the defending third of the field.”

The Wanderers are now in a fascinating situation, perhaps feeling both pride and shame simultaneously having qualified for a championship final and lost 5-0 on the same day.

What do they take away from this, then? Do they burn the tapes, and try to forget about it? Or does getting beaten that badly add fuel to the fire, helping them come out angry and motivated in the final against Forge?

Hart told reporters that he’d thought about that with his staff, including at halftime while the score was 4-0. Ultimately, he said, the message for the second 45 was to try and revert to their normal mindset and reclaim whatever momentum they could.

“The first half we made a lot of fundamental errors, and that is unacceptable at this level. Even with the changes in the lineup, it’s unacceptable,” Hart said.

“But if you look at the second-half performance, we were back to doing some of the things that we have done well and that have made us reach the final.

“I told the players that in the dressing room, it’s one of those things where you owe it to yourselves, and of course you owe it to the fans, to make a real go of the second half, and get back to the things that we stand for.”

The Wanderers were much better in the second half, making a few substitutions and trying to shake off the early catastrophe. They clawed back to 50 per cent possession, created a few chances, and spent more time in the Pacific end. They still weren’t rewarded, but the coach was heartened to see that they were capable of turning it back on.

At the end of the day, HFX is now heading into a final having rested their best players for a full week (with Forge forced to play most of their regulars on Tuesday). They’ve earned their way there, and Hart is fully confident they have as good a chance as Forge at winning the North Star Shield.

“We are a team that nobody expected to be here, and from what I understand, some of the pundits have already written us off,” Hart quipped. “It should be good.”