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The HFX Wanderers FC are looking at the Canadian Premier League fall season as a fresh start.

They can kick off the second half on the right foot with a home victory Saturday afternoon against the visiting York9 FC.

“We’re ready to take on the second half of the season,” said striker Akeem Garcia, who leads the team with three goals.

“We know what to expect now. We needed some changes to be done. As players we are learning each other more, our strengths, our weaknesses and our right formations.”

Head coach Stephen Hart likened the first half — known as the spring season — to that of a pre-season schedule.

“Now comes the real grind,” the veteran coach said in an interview following Thursday’s practice.

“The first half of the season for us was nine league games and four (Canadian champinship) games (in a nine-week span). Now we play nine games in the month of July alone. That’s a huge learning curve for us. We’ll require some creative team rotation.”

The Wanderers wrapped up the spring season with a disappointing 2-0 setback to FC Edmonton in the Alberta capital on Canada Day.

They finished the first half in fourth place with a middling 3-5-2 record. All of their victories have come at the Wanderers Grounds. They are 3-1-1 at their home pitch.

Their road woes could be accounted for a lack of offence. The Wanderers were outscored 6-0 in five matches away from Halifax.

“We need to create a lot more chances,” said Garcia, a five-foot-six Trinidadian, who scored the Wanderers’ first-ever goal in the team’s home opener on May 4. “We need to bring more numbers on our attack. We have to be on the right page and understand each other better.

“Scoring on the road has be a lot more important than scoring at home. Obviously it’s important to score at home and win the games but the whole atmosphere at home and the support behind us is one of the reasons why we win there.

“I think we need to take more chances and start scoring away from home. Tactical-wise we need everyone on the same page. But I feel the fall season should be better for us.”

As frustrating as the dearth of scoring has been to Hart’s charges, the same cannot be said of the club’s defensive game.

And two of the team’s defenders — Zela Langwa and captain Peter Schaale — earned selections to the Spring XI, a first-half all-star squad of 11 players as voted by the CPL editorial staff.

The 21-year-old Langwa, an aggressive left fullback, had 30 tackles in the spring, nearly a third more than any other CPL defender.

Schaale, the former Atlantic university men’s soccer MVP at Cape Breton, has become one of the top defenders in the Canadian circuit. The centre-back had a league-leading 61 clearances.

“Schaale and Langwa have been amazing,” Garcia said. “They are consistent in my eyes and have played in every game. They are a big part of our defence.

“But I also think why we’ve been good defensively is because we defend as a unit. Everyone’s had a part to play. The goalkeepers — (Christian) Oxner and Jan-Michael (Williams) — have been playing really well so applause goes out to them. It’s been an overall team effort.”

Three matches are on the docket on Saturday.

Calgary-based Cavalry FC (8-2-0) visits Pacific FC (3-5-2) in Langford, B.C. Calvary has scored a league-high 16 goals and conceded the fewest — tied with Forge FC — with seven.

By clinching top spot in the spring season, Cavalry FC has punched its ticket to the CPL championship in October.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Forge FC (6-3-1) entertains Edmonton FC (4-4-2) in Hamilton, Ont.

York9 FC heads into the 4:30 p.m. matinee at the Wanderers Grounds with a 2-3-5 spring record.

Both of the Wanderers’ draws were against the York9: 1-1 at home on May 29 and 0-0 on June 22 in Toronto.

“It’ll be nice to get a win against them,” Garcia said. “We’ll need to create more chances against them if we want to come out with a victory.”