York United v HFX Wanderers FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Canadian Premier League · Sunday, 16 August 2026. Final score 4–3 (half-time 3–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 59% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals59%41%Over
Over 3.5 goals37%63%no pick
Both teams to score62%38%Yes

The result model puts York United at 41%, the draw at 25% and HFX Wanderers FC at 34%, from expected goals of 1.56 and 1.42.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Canadian Premier League has produced over 2.5 goals in 58% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. York United have 8 in 14 this season (5 of 6 at home), HFX Wanderers FC 9 in 17 (4 of 9 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 58% and 56%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 14 and 17 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 61% and 57%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 59%.

Head to head. These sides have met 12 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 59%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 57%, from expected goals of 1.56 for York United and 1.42 for HFX Wanderers FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 59%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
York United1457%57%71%
HFX Wanderers FC1753%35%65%

Head to head

23 May 26HFX Wanderers FC 1–1 York UnitedU2.5
11 Apr 26York United 2–2 HFX Wanderers FCO2.5
22 Oct 25HFX Wanderers FC 1–1 York UnitedU2.5
4 Oct 25HFX Wanderers FC 1–1 York UnitedU2.5
1 Sept 25HFX Wanderers FC 4–0 York UnitedO2.5
1 Jun 25York United 2–0 HFX Wanderers FCU2.5

More: York United season stats · HFX Wanderers FC season stats · Canadian Premier League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.