A sellout crowd of 4,965 at CEPSUM in Montreal bore witness to FC Supra du Québec's first ever home opener, but it was the visiting Atlético Ottawa who left with the spoils, thanks to a stoppage-time winner by Tyr Duhaney-Walker.
With the dramatic last-gasp 1-0 win, Ottawa have their first three points of the season, claiming a late triumph despite a spirited showing from Supra on home turf.
For FC Supra's first home match, head coach Nick Razzaghi chose not to shake up his lineup too much, making just one change as Wesley Wandje came in at left-back in place of Diyaeddine Abzi. Ottawa boss Diego Mejía was a little more drastic with his team selection, making five changes from the side that lost to Cavalry last week.
Among the changes was goalkeeper Garissone Innocent, newly available after missing the first two games. Up front, Canadian international forward Santiago López got his club debut after arriving on loan from Pumas UNAM this week.
Similarly to their first match at Pacific, FC Supra had to shake off some early nerves in this match. Within a few minutes, however, Supra settled into their attacking system, looking to attack Ottawa down the flanks with direct play.
The home side were definitely the more dangerous in the first half, sending five shots — four of them on target — at the Ottawa goal. Clément Bayiha came closest to opening the scoring, flicking a loose ball at what looked like an open net, only for Atleti defender Sergei Kozlovskiy to slide through just in time and block it.
Although Supra had made much better use of their 36 per cent possession than Atleti had with 64, neither side managed to open the scoring in the first half at CEPSUM.
Supra came out even stronger to open the second frame, possessing more of the ball and pouring shot after shot toward the Atleti penalty area. Ottawa were repeatedly spared by their goalkeeper, Garissone Innocent, who palmed away three dangerous shots within the first 10 minutes of the half.
Between halftime and the hour mark, Supra took seven shots, pinning Ottawa into their own third and furiously searching to retrieve the ball on the few occasions Atleti cleared it forward.
The defending champions survived the onslaught, and began finding some chances of their own on the counter-attack; Manny Aparicio and López, in particular, became increasingly aggressive with forward runs. Joakim Milli, however, was up to the challenge in Supra's goal, confidently claiming loose balls before truly dangerous opportunities could develop.
The last laugh, however, would be Ottawa's. The visitors weathered a few more dangerous attempts from Supra, but deep in stoppage time, they foudn their moment of magic. A free-kick cross from Daniel Aguilar came into a crowded penalty area, and defender Tyr Duhaney-Walker rose above the rest to nod in the ball at the near post.
Supra came achingly close to an equalizer at the death, but Innocent again was up to the challenge and Ottawa took the 1-0 win. The loss is a bitter pill to swallow for Supra, who fired 22 total shots at the Atleti goal and put 10 on target. In fact, Supra have tied a CPL record with 20 combined shots on target across two games.
"Stats are only good with context, but I do feel the stats represented the quality of the performance that we put out, and the effort that the guys put out," Supra head coach Nick Razzaghi said post-match.
"It gives a bit of a picture, maybe we deserved more from this game, but that's life. ... You're going to win games, lose games in a 28-game season. You can be caught up in every little detail, in the highs and the lows, and it's reality you're going to live them. It's more how you handle them that matters."
Atleti can now return to the capital for their home opener with a little more confidence and some points in their ledger.
"It's a great feeling," The goalscorer Duhaney-Walker told reporters. "We didn't start the season off the way we wanted. It's just a good way to boost morale for the team and show what we want to do for the rest of the season."
Duhaney-Walker was also asked about a potential budding rivalry between his side and Supra; a heavy contingent of Atleti fans had made the two-hour trek from the capital. Although Ottawa hadn't discussed bragging rights much in the lead-up, he said:
"Now we have them."
FC Supra will now look to claim their first home win on Friday against Halifax, aiming to build on some very positive play.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
FC Supra du Québec: Milli; Auguste, Yeo, Chrétien, Wandje (Ferdinand 90+8'); Sissoko, Biello; Bayiha (Bey 67'), Rea, Choinière (Marcoux 82'); Kwemi
Atlético Ottawa: Innocent; Cloutier, Abatneh, Kozlovskiy (Duhaney-Walker 73'); Assi (Coulanges 73'), Aparicio (Stojadinovic 90+2'), Castro, Timoteo; Habibullah (Aguilar 54'), López (Garcia 83'), Tabla (Villal 90+2')
Goals
90+3' — Tyr Duhaney-Walker (Atlético Ottawa)
Discipline
36' — Yellow: Matisse Chrétien (FC Supra)
48' — Yellow: Sergei Kozlovskiy (Atlético Ottawa)
78' — Yellow: Aboubacar Sissoko (FC Supra)
CPLSoccer.com Player of the Match
Garissone Innocent, Atlético Ottawa
The Atleti keeper was outstanding in his CPL debut, making nine saves — some of them nothing short of spectacular. His distribution was flawless as well (32 out of 32 attempted passes successful), as the Haitian international gave his team the opportunity to score late and win.
What’s next?
Supra remain at home with a quick turnaround to next Friday, April 24 when they play the Halifax Wanderers at CEPSUM (7 p.m. ET). Ottawa head back to the nation's capital, where they'll host Vancouver FC in their 2026 home opener on Sunday, April 26 (1 p.m. ET).
For broadcast details of the 2026 CPL season, go to cplsoccer.com/watch.
