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“We’re here, and we want to spoil the party”: How Pacific FC is working to reach a second playoff final in three years

After the final whistle blew in Calgary on October 7th, not many around the Canadian Premier League had Pacific down as among the favourites to lift the new North Star Cup as playoff winners.

Some even wondered if they would ever get past the suddenly resurgent York United FC in the new fourth-versus-fifth play-in match in the league’s revamped playoff format.

Inside the Tridents’ squad, however, a different feeling was brewing.

“We were looking forward to the playoffs,” says Pacific FC winger Kekuta Manneh. “We had confidence and knew it was going to be a completely different game. They’re going to be a little bit tighter and there’s not going to be any high-scoring games.”

For a group that blew teams away with their offensive firepower on multiple occasions during the regular season, the grind of playoff football wouldn’t seem like a match made in heaven. But this season’s PFC side has shown it has the dynamism to play whatever way it takes to win.

In the club’s first playoff match against York United, a mid-week encounter at Starlight Stadium, all those around the club knew it was the last time the team would play in front of its home supporters this season, and those final memories together matter for the lead into next season.

“You want to reward the fans for their support all year,” says Manneh. “They’ve been there building with us, they came out every single home game and supported the team. We want to win for the fans and make the game exciting for them. That was the mentality: make the fans happy and proud.”

For Island-born midfielder Sean Young, playing in front of the home fans has a different meaning, but getting a result is always top of mind.

“As a player, it’s obviously better to play at home and make your home fans happy and give them what they want. We thought, if we could get that win at home in the first match with them pushing us on, we could get some momentum going forward in the playoffs where we’d play on the road.”

And so, after an exhilarating 90 minutes of football against York, when Adonijah Reid’s goal went in, there was an outpouring of emotion both in the stands and on the pitch as that feeling of momentum started to come true.

Pacific FC celebrates Adonijah Reid’s stoppage time winner against York United FC in the 2023 play-in match (Sheldon Mack/Pacific FC)

But the focus had to quickly shift to the next match, along with the small matter of getting to the other side of the country in a couple days.

Under the CPL’s new playoff format, the winner of the fourth-versus-fifth match would travel to play the third-place finisher for a Saturday afternoon kickoff. With Pacific’s match against York United taking place Wednesday night, that left just Thursday and Friday to get to Halifax where HFX Wanderers FC would be waiting fully-rested.

As they set off on that gruelling cross-country trip, Young describes the group as taking on a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality to the task in front of them.

“We used that adversity as motivation for sure,” says Young, “We felt like nothing was going to stop us. It doesn’t matter if we have to travel for 24 hours, stay the night in Toronto, and have this long journey across the country. Once we get there, we know what we need to do.”

Manneh, the man who got the assist for Reid’s winning goal against York, agrees and says that the group was excited, knowing how good they’ve been away from home this season.

“It’s not easy having to fly across the country to play a game in three days. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, no matter what it is. Where we’re going, it’s not going to be easy, but we do really well on the road. We knew we had to get something in the game and the travel didn’t really matter.”

Another thing standing in front of the Tridents once they finally arrived in Halifax on Friday, less than 24 hours before kickoff, was the fact the Wanderers had announced a sellout crowd for Saturday’s fixture. Haligonians are known for their incredible support, but at the same time, Pacific were relishing the idea of coming in and silencing the majority of those in attendance.

“When you’re playing away at a packed stadium, where pretty much every fan is against you and they’re loud, there’s a new motivation to say, ‘we’re here, and we want to spoil the party and show that we’re not just going to roll over to your team and to you guys. You’re not going to get the best of us’,” says Young.

And on that Saturday afternoon, with practically zero rest or recovery time after Wednesday’s win over York, Pacific went into the Wanderers Grounds and put on a clinic in how to play with a backs-to-the-wall, never-say-die mentality. Although Halifax dominated possession, it was the Tridents who made their chances count going forward to come away with a 1-0 win.

The willingness to suffer and sacrifice for each other was the most breath-taking takeaway from Pacific’s performance against Halifax. Doing so just days after grinding out another impressive 1-0 win against York made it even more remarkable.

“That’s playoff football,” says Young. “You have to love the grind. It’s more tense, it’s do or die.”

Manneh, one of the older heads in the squad, offered up some sound advice before the team took the pitch against Halifax.

“I reminded the boys that ‘it’s about us today. It’s about what we do when we have the ball and when we don’t have the ball. All the hard work we’ve put in, today is the day. We’re doing it for days like today’.”

“We needed to show up and the boys did that. Everybody gave everything they had.”

A repeat of 2021?

Pacific now travels to Calgary – straight from Halifax without returning to the Island – with two outstanding playoff wins under the belt. The job doesn’t get any easier from here, but the team spirit and togetherness of the group is a huge factor in the team continuing to carry the momentum forward, despite so much being put in their way.

“You see it before training, going to training, going to the games, in the hotel,” says Manneh. “You can see how lively the group is. We want to do it together. We said from day one, ‘no one person can do it by themselves. It has to take everybody’. I think we’re seeing that now in the playoff run. We’re together, everybody’s buying into it.”

Another layer of this playoff run is how similarly it is now set up to 2021 when the club won its first-ever trophy. In that season, and in a different playoff format, Pacific had to travel to Cavalry FC for a playoff semi-final before going to Hamilton for the final against Forge FC. With Forge having already booked their spot in the final this season, which they will again host, Pacific has a chance to repeat the magic of 2021 when they take the field against Cavalry this coming Saturday.

Young was there in 2021, coming on as a substitute in both the semi-final and final, and knows first-hand how valiantly that season’s team fought in both matches.

“I remember them clearing snow off the field just before the game started,” says Young of that semi-final match against Cavalry in 2021. “The field didn’t look like grass, it was dead grass. It wasn’t their usual nice green pitch. And it was a grind of a game, a very cagey game with a lot of big challenges. Both teams were getting into it with each other and it obviously went to extra time where we found a way to win.”

Pacific FC celebrates their victory over Cavalry FC in the 2021 playoff semi-final (Mike Sturk/CPL)

That match also played a large role in the rivalry between Pacific and Cavalry growing even more intense. Again, Young has been around to witness most of those high-octane matches against the Cavs and says that season is when the rivalry really took shape.

“It started in 2021 when we came here and we won in both the Canadian Championship and the playoff semi-final. We took them out of the two competitions. To be fair, the last few times that we’ve come here, non-playoff games, they’ve gotten the better of us at ATCO field. But now that it’s the playoffs again, they’re going to have it in the back of their minds that they don’t want to have a repeat of 2021.”

For Manneh, although he wasn’t around in 2021, he has a ton of big-game experience to call upon and recognizes what’s required to get results in these kinds of matches.

“We have a young group, but some of the guys have been here before in the playoffs. The club has won it before as well so some of the older guys have that experience. For the rest, it’s just continuing to grow as a group. The road is never easy though. I’ve been to two MLS Conference Finals and the Canadian Championships Final twice, it’s not easy. You have to do it together, no one person can do it by themselves, it’s a team effort. We have to use each other’s strengths and I think we’ve been doing that the past couple games. That’s gonna help us in the long run.”

That wisdom has been invaluable to the Tridents all season long, and especially during this playoff run. 

By this point the whole group knows they have the quality, the willingness to grind, and the unity to keep the journey going on Saturday and reach a second Canadian Premier League final in three years.

“We know what to expect,” says Young, “You need to be up for the fight of the game, manage the emotions that come with it, and know that the crowd is going to be intense. It’s not just another game, it’s different from the regular season, but in the end we’re doing it together.”