Two late goals from substitute Ballou Tabla saw CF Montreal beat HFX Wanderers 3-1 on Wednesday night and earn his side a spot in the Canadian Championship semifinal. The early stages of the match were dominated by Montreal in the first of two CPL-versus-MLS matches on the night. The visitors had over 70% possession in the first 25 minutes, and took four shots. Three of those shots were blocked, and the other fired over the bar -- each met by a loud ovation from the Wanderers faithful. Against the run of play, the home side took the lead in the 27th minute, on a moment of magic from Cory Bent. The Wanderers attacker chased down Montreal's Emanuel Maciel, winning the ball back before charging to the edge of the box. Samuel Piette tried to close him down, but Bent took an audacious lobbed shot that went over Sebastian Breza's head and into the top corner. It was Bent's second goal of the competition, as he also scored the opener against PLSQ side A.S. Blainville in the Preliminary Round. HFX held onto the lead for eight minutes, before Matko Miljevic scored a debut goal to equalize for the visitors. After a series of passes around the edge of the Wanderers' box, Zorhan Bassong received a pass down the left flank. The Canadian international left back took a touch around a Wanderers defender, before playing a low ball into the box. Miljevic received it and -- while falling over -- fired a shot into the roof of the net to tie the game. The match was tied at one goal apiece going into halftime. Both sides had spells in the second half where they were on the front foot, as they pushed for the winning goal. Strong substitutions were made by the two coaches as well, with Akeem Garcia replacing Samuel Salter in the second half in his return from injury, and Wilfried Nancy bringing the likes of Zachary Brault-Guillard and Ballou Tabla off the Montreal bench. CF Montreal had the majority of the shots again in the second half, but most of them missed the target. They had 15 shots in the second half, 21 total, while HFX only managed two total -- both in the opening 45 minutes. The clock slowly ticked toward the final whistle tied at 1-1, and penalties were looming -- but HFX wouldn't get a chance to pull of the upset, thanks to some late heroics from Tabla. After a low cross into the box from the left wing made its way through uncontested, CF Montreal played the ball out to the right for a second attempt at a ball in. Zachary Brault-Guillard played it to Tabla, who smashed a shot into the top right corner from beside the penalty spot. Tabla doubled the lead four minutes later, making an overlapping run around Lassi Lappalainen before receiving a pass from the Finnish winger and firing a shot across goal, and past Kieran Baskett to confirm victory for his side. With the victory, CF Montreal moves onto the semifinal, where they will take on CPL side Forge FC.

BOX SCORE Goals 27′ -- Cory Bent (HFX Wanderers) 35' -- Matko Miljevic (CF Montreal) 89' -- Ballou Tabla (CF Montreal) 90+2' -- Ballou Tabla (CF Montreal) Discipline 30′ -- Yellow: Matko Miljevic (CF Montreal) 30' -- Yellow: Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé (HFX Wanderers)

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