Atlético Ottawa and York United each picked up a deserved point at TD Place on Saturday night, drawing 3-3 in one of the most entertaining matches of the 2023 Canadian Premier League season thus far.
The first close attempt of the match came in the tenth minute. Mo Babouli struck a free kick from the edge of the penalty area that beat the wall of defenders but couldn’t dip enough to hit the target. It ended up on the net above the goal, although Nathan Ingham was in a position to make the save had it dropped enough. Babouli was looking to score in the same way he did last time these teams met at TD Place, but this attempt was less successful.
After knocking on the door a few more times, York finally took the lead in the 24th minute. After receiving a long pass to the right flank from Tass Mourdoukoutas, Clément Bayiha did well to win a battle with MacDonald Niba and get in behind the Ottawa backline. After taking a few steps, he played a low pass across the box that was met by Brian Wright, who made a great run into the box to get in position for a relatively easy tap-in.
It was Wright’s long-awaited first goal of the season, and against his former club.
York didn’t rest on their laurels, and found a second goal less than three minutes later, in a similar fashion. Bayiha was played in behind again, this time on a pass from Wright. He beat Niba for pace again, running onto the ball before whipping another low cross into a dangerous area. Kevin Dos Santos met it this time, firing a low shot at Ingham, which the former York goalkeeper couldn’t keep out of the back of the net.
The York onslaught continued, and three minutes after Dos Santos’ goal, Wright nearly put it in the back of the net again. A bit of space opened up for him to get a shot away from inside the penalty area after he turned between a couple of defenders, but Wright fired his shot off the crossbar when it would have perhaps been easier to go for placement rather than power.
The home side pulled one back late in the half, with captain Carl Haworth cutting the deficit in half. He intercepted a pass from Elijah Adekugbe, nutmegged Mourdoukoutas, and calmly slotted the ball past Niko Giantsopoulos.
Niba, looking to get some redemption after a challenging first half, tried to tie things up for Ottawa with a shot from distance, but his effort went just high of the top left corner of Giantsopoulos’ goal. A few minutes later, however, the ball would be in the back of the York net, again off the foot of Carl Haworth.
After his side won a free kick at the edge of the penalty area, Haworth stepped up and curled it toward the top right corner of the goal. The York goalkeeper got a touch as he dived to his left, but the ball got through his hands and ended up in the back of the net, tying the match at 2-2.
The match wasn’t tied for long, however, as York found a third goal three minutes later in unusual circumstances. Brem Soumaoro fired a low pass toward the penalty area that seemed to come off the shin of Babouli, redirecting it toward the net. The ball came out off the post, before hitting the back of the sprawled out Nathan Ingham, and trickling into the Ottawa goal.
It was officially credited as an own goal against the Ottawa netminder, and gave York an important lead on the road.
Dos Santos had a chance for his second goal in the 71st minute, after a nice passing play presented him with a shot from a few yards away from the goal. He tried to fire a shot into the top corner at the near post with a lot of power, but his shot went high and wide, sailing into the night sky in the nation’s capital.
York would come to regret not taking advantage of that opportunity, as Ottawa came back to tie the game again, this time in the 81st minute. Second half substitute Ruben Del Campo held off his defender on the left wing, and was able to fire a cross into the danger zone, which was met with a thumping header from Diego Espejo to make it 3-3 late on.
Both sides kept pushing hard for a fourth, and game-winning, goal, but the final minutes of the 90, plus five of stoppage time, came and went without another late tally. Both teams end the day in a playoff spot with a point each, as Atlético Ottawa move up to fourth, and York fifth, with the Halifax Wanderers dropping from fourth to sixth.
BOX SCORE
Goals
24′ — Brian Wright (York United) 26′ — Kevin Dos Santos (York United) 35′ — Carl Haworth (Atlético Ottawa) 59′ — Carl Haworth (Atlético Ottawa) 62′ — Nathan Ingham (Atlético Ottawa) — own goal 81′ — Diego Espejo (Atlético Ottawa)
