A contingent of Canadians followed before Hart turned his attention to signing three players from the CPL Open Trials:[1] Kouamé Ouattara, Kodai Iida, and Mohamed Kourouma.

Hart also signed all three U-Sports draft picks, and added some veteran attacking options in Luis Alberto Perea and Juan Diego Gutierrez.

HFX would lose all of them, bar one draw away to the afore-mentioned Ottawa Fury FC, which was insufficient to progress in the Canadian Championship.

Improved defensive performances in September resulted in an uptick of form, but without much goalscoring, HFX could only muster six consecutive draws (a league record), surrendering the lead late on a number of occasions along the way.

Combined with suggestions of locker room discord[2] and Hart commenting on his players learning what it meant to be a professional,[3] the Fall Season was difficult for HFX, finishing last which also “earned” the team the proverbial wooden spoon for 2019 as a whole.

Off the pitch, the club was a tremendous success, the supporters regularly packing Wanderers Grounds to its limits and making it a difficult place to play for visiting teams.

The boisterous atmosphere was the envy of the league and even attracted the notice of Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley who hoped his team would play there in the Canadian Championship.