Something funny happened on the way to the coronation.
Nobody told the the rest of the Canadian Premier League that it was on.
Pacific FC seemed comfortably gliding atop the table just last weekend before dropping a 2-1 decision to Cavalry FC on Saturday at Starlight Stadium that was followed by a 2-1 loss Tuesday night in a fog-shrouded Wanderers Ground in Halifax against HFX.
“We had a good run but now we have to be humble and hungry,” said PFC head coach James Merriman.
“It’s not the worst thing for us. We’ve got to challenge this group and continue to build.”
Both consecutive losses followed the same script with PFC falling behind 2-0 before rally attempts fell short.
“We started a little bit slow,” said Merriman, in Halifax.
“It takes us these moments to wake up.”
He liked the response after falling behind a brace in both games, even if it wasn’t enough.
“We were still going at them and still attacking,” said Merriman.
“I can’t fault the players.”
The chance of a comeback was made harder in Halifax when the Tridents went down to 10 men with Sean Young sent off at 56 minutes with a rare double-yellow card on the same play. The Victoria-produced midfielder was yellow-carded for a tackle, after which he compounded matters by shoving an HFX player. Young was assessed another yellow card for the push, which equalled red, and was sent on an early trip to the dressing room.
As with every soccer game, it hinges on a few plays. Merriman said he thought the first HFX goal by NCAA Div. 1 Syracuse Orange-grad Massimo Ferrin at 16 minutes might have been offside but admitted he had not yet seen the replay. NCAA Div. 1 Creighton-grad Callum Watson made it 2-0 at 49 minutes before the Tridents finally got out of their fog. Pinching defender Amer Didic brought the Tridents to within one at 87 minutes but they could not find the equalizer as HFX recorded its fourth consecutive victory at the Wanderers Ground.
PFC remained three points clear atop the CPL table at 7-3-4 in wins-losses draws while HFX moved into fifth place at 4-3-7.
The match-up features the third-longest distance between pro soccer teams in a domestic Premiership league in the world, with PFC leading the all-time series against their coast-to-coast rivals HFX 6-5-5 over five seasons.
The Tridents fly into Toronto to play fourth-place York United (6-7-2) on Friday.
