In Atlético Ottawa’s match against the Halifax Wanderers on Aug. 8, suspense and patience best described the scene at TD Place.
Ottawa produced another late-game drama with a 2-1 victory at home against the visitors from Nova Scotia.
The game lasted nearly three hours and 30 minutes due to severe weather conditions.
The result strengthened Atlético’s hold on the fourth and final playoff spot in the Canadian Premier League standings with seven wins, six losses and three draws for 24 points — a relatively comfortable six points ahead of fifth-place Supra du Québec.
Halifax is in sixth place with 17 points.
The Wanderers opened the scoring in the 39th minute when Halifax winger Miguel Arilla outpaced Atlético defender Loïc Cloutier and fired a powerful low shot past goalkeeper Chris Kalongo.
Despite the visitors’ attacks, teenager Tim Arnaud — making his first start alongside another recent newcomer, Nicolas Fleuriau-Chateau — provided the assist for Emiliano Garcia, who equalized with a header in the 62nd minute.
About 10 minutes later, just moments after the Wanderers were denied a penalty, a severe thunderstorm spread across the nation’s capital and forced the game to be paused.
Tabla led the comeback for Ottawa
After the storm, which emptied the stadium of fans, Ottawa put in a completely different performance for the remaining 25 minutes and pulled out the win with a clutch goal.
During the post-match press conference, Atlético Ottawa’s head coach Gustavo Leal said he used the unexpected break to come up with a new tactic to turn the game around.
“We showed the players a video of the game and changed our game plan, and after that we had control over the opponent.”
“Normally, video analysis takes two days, but today it only took us only one hour and a half,” Leal said.
Ottawa played more aggressively and created more opportunities to score. The team’s revitalized offence quickly produced the winning goal.
Following a through pass from captain Manny Aparicio, Gabriel Antinoro found Ballou Tabla inside the box. Tabla controlled the ball with his left foot and fired a sharp shot into the top right corner of Halifax’s net to take a 2-1 lead in the 79th minute.
After scoring his eighth goal this season, Tabla remains a strong contender for the Golden Boot, the league’s top scorer award. He is currently tied with Loïc Kwemi of FC Supra du Québec.
The Canadian-Ivorian winger continues to shine, delivering remarkable performances, such as his hat trick in the Canadian Championship against Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC last May.
The 27-year-old also has the most appearances in club history with a total of 118 games played.
Beyond his impact on the field, Tabla’s experience at CF Montréal and FC Barcelona makes him both a leader and a senior figure for the younger players on the team.
Atlético returned to TD Place on Tuesday, Aug. 11 for the second leg of its Canadian Championship quarter-final against FC Supra. Ottawa lost the first game 3-1 and despite battling to 3-3 draw in Game 2, lost 6-4 in aggregate.
The Canadian Championship games don’t count in the CPL standings. But Atlético’s next regular season game is also against Supra. The teams meet on Sunday, Aug. 16 at Laval’s Stade Boréale.
