Forge FC increased their grip on first place in the Canadian Premier League on Saturday, as they defeated 905 Derby rivals York United FC 2-0 at Tim Hortons Field on a rainy afternoon in Hamilton.
A few surprises appeared when the team sheets for this match came in, most notably on the York side. Manager Benjamín Mora made six changes to his side from the prior match, putting natural midfielders Elijah Adekugbe and Matthew Baldisimo at centre-back, giving Kembo Kibato his first start for the club at left-back and handing Trivine Esprit his first start of the year at right wing. Meanwhile, Forge’s most significant change was Noah Jensen starting in place of the injured Tristan Borges, while Jordan Hamilton returned up top.
The first 25 minutes or so passed without incident, neither team managing much in the way of attacking impetus, though York had an advantage in possession as they got comfortable with a new-look lineup.
Forge were dealt a blow shortly before the half hour mark, as Elimane Cissé dropped to what looked like an ankle injury just outside his own box. Bobby Smyrniotis was thus forced to go to his bench early, bringing on Malcolm Duncan to replace the Senegalese international.
The rest of the half went by in fairly quietly though; both sides had a couple of decent chances, including a Kyle Bekker shot that stung Thomas Vincensini’s palms. However, more of the most notable battles were physical challenges, with a handful of yellow cards dished out, and the two sides went into halftime scoreless.
Each team made a change at the break: York brought off Mo Babouli, who appeared to be labouring with a back injury in the first half, replacing him with Santiago Márquez. Meanwhile, Forge made a change up top as Nana Ampomah came in for Jordan Hamilton.
Early in the second half, York came close to opening the scoring as Shola Jimoh broke into the box from the left side, but his shot smacked off the underside of the crossbar and back out to safety.
Moments later, it was in fact Forge who broke the deadlock. Bekker brought the ball down in the attacking third and played himself forward, holding off Martínez to get into the box and play a pass along the ground across goal. Jensen arrived just in time at the back post to smash it into an open goal from a difficult angle, scoring his fifth of the year — including one in back-to-back games after scoring last week in Vancouver.
As the rain began to bucket down in Hamilton, York pressed for an equalizer, but found it difficult to break down the Forge defence.
The Hammers were bolstered by a club debut in the 75th minute, as Greek-Belgian forward Victor Klonaridis entered the match for the first time since signing two weeks ago.
Klonaridis managed to make an impact fairly quickly in his first appearance, as he made a good darting run onto the end of a through ball by Alex Achinioti-Jönsson. The Forge newcomer took just one good touch before squaring a ball across to Nana Ampomah, who finished in stride to double the hosts’ advantage.
After that, it was a comfortable end to the match for Forge, who improved their lead at the top of the table to eight points ahead of the weekend’s other matches. The Hammers have now taken 34 points from home games this year, setting a club record with 11 league wins at Tim Hortons Field in 2024.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
Forge FC: Koleilat; Cissé (Duncan 28′), Achinioti-Jönsson, Metusala, Parra (Owolabi-Belewu 89′); Jensen, Hojabrpour, Bekker (Schiavoni 89′); Choinière (Klonaridis 75′), Hamilton (Ampomah 46′), Badibanga
York United FC: Vincensini; Córdova, Baldisimo, Adekugbe, Kibato; Esprit (Pareja 80′), Babouli (Márquez 45′), Martínez, Giraldo (Voytsekhovskyy 80′), Jimoh; Wright (López 89′)
Goals
52′ — Noah Jensen (Forge FC)
86′ — Nana Ampomah (Forge FC)
Discipline
14′ — Yellow: Elijah Adekugbe (York United)
19′ — Yellow: Garven Metusala (Forge FC)
41′ — Yellow: Tomas Giraldo (York United)
44′ — Yellow: Malcolm Duncan (Forge FC)
90+1′ — Yellow: Juan Córdova (York United)
