Welcome to week 9 of Wandering the Tides, our weekly column about the who, what, and how of Halifax football.

The Wanderers

After the heartbreak against Ottawa and, if not heartbreak, then perhaps a feeling of lacking something against Toronto, the Wanderers notch up a win against Vancouver FC

Let's get the man of the match out of the way right from the start, because Cicarelli had one of the most eventful cameos you'll ever see. Introduced around the 85th minute, he picked up a yellow card in the 90+2nd minute for shirt-pulling, scored the winner a minute later after a burst up the pitch, and then received a second yellow card for taking his shirt off during the celebration.

I doubt anyone on the pitch had more action than he did.

So the home win arrived, as I had predicted, but how much work did it take? Quite a lot, as it turned out. A look at the statistics is pretty brutal. Forty-five per cent possession is not especially concerning, but that winning goal came from one of only four shots all match. Vancouver, the "best last-place team in the world", managed 15 shots and earned eight corners compared to just one for the Wanderers.

Perhaps it helped that both Johnston and Callegari spent much of the match playing on yellow cards, although Johnston's booking did not arrive until well into the second half.

Still, at the end of the day, a win is a win is a win. The team has picked up four points from its last three matches. But I still struggle to see how the current tactical approach breaks into the top four. Some tactical adjustments are needed to make things click offensively.

The Tides

I had predicted a win here as well and, in hindsight, that may have been a little overconfident. Still, I think the match largely played out in a way that showed I was not too far off. Ottawa controlled possession for much of the game, but the two sides were fairly even in terms of shots, and the Tides showed they are more than capable of getting stuck into a strong opponent and disrupting its rhythm.

I was actually surprised when I checked the statistics afterwards and saw just how lopsided the possession numbers were, with Ottawa holding more than 60% of the ball. Halifax forcing more corners and delivering more crosses into the box tells the story of what this team can do when its game plan starts to click. Having players who can support the attack from unexpected positions certainly helps as well.

Unfortunately, football often comes down to small moments, and two costly errors undermined an otherwise solid defensive effort, resulting in a 2-1 home defeat.

In his post-match comments, Hart said he could not have asked for much more from his team. I think the mistakes that led to the goals, particularly the first one where a defender and the goalkeeper collided, are simply the kind of errors that need to be eliminated over time.

Standings

For the Wanderers, the win leaves them sixth in the table with nine points. They now sit just one point behind Supra and, if results go their way, could move past them with another victory.

Their next challenge is a trip to face a confident Cavalry side on the 6th. Vanni will need every bit of his defensive tactical expertise for that one.

Fifth place and seven points is not where we want to see the Tides, but they are level with Toronto and only two points behind Vancouver.

The Tides will not be back in action until the weekend of the 13th and 14th, when they host Calgary. With a strong opportunity to pick up three points while Vancouver faces Ottawa, a move into fourth place looks like a realistic possibility.