Forge FC produced their most dominant performance of the season to date in a stunning 4-0 victory over York United at York Lions Stadium on Sunday night. The Hamilton side controlled the match from start to finish and were consistently rewarded for their efforts.
Terran Campbell recorded his first CPL hat trick and Tristan Borges added to the scoring. Triston Henry wasn’t called upon often during a dominant Forge performance but made a few key saves to preserve his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Forge came close to opening the scoring in the 23rd minute, as a corner kick opportunity rattled around in the York penalty area but they couldn’t convert. A minute later, however, a brilliant first-time cross played by Borges found Jordan Hamilton, whose shot was stopped by Niko Giantsopolous, but right into the path of Campbell who made it three straight matches he has scored against York.
The visitors continued to press their advantage, and on a counter-attack a few moments later Hamilton hit the post to the right of the York goalkeeper. In the 29th minute, it was York’s turn to hit the woodwork, as a strong strike from distance by Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé was saved brilliantly by Triston Henry. Next it was Jensen, who sent a curling strike just off the right post in the 32nd minute.
Campbell, however, would not be denied on the night, as he ran onto the end of a perfectly weighted ball in the 33rd minute played through by Borges and slotted it past Giantsopolous.
What looked to be a near-perfect half from Forge on the road, however, was dealt a blow in the dying moments as Jordan Hamilton pulled up with an injury and had to be replaced by David Choinière. Forge, however, would otherwise be pleased with their first-half effort as they held the 2-0 lead into half-time.
Forge continued to press their advantage early in the second half. Borges took down a long switch played by Kyle Bekker excellently, dribbled into the centre of the park and let go of a deflected shot that wrong-footed Giantsopolous.
In the 53rd minute, Campbell completed his hat trick. This time it was substitute Choinière who played provider as his cross found the head of the Forge striker. He became just the fifth player in league history, and the third Forge player, to record a hat trick.
Frustrated with what he had seen from his side on the evening, Martin Nash made four subs in bringing on Osaze De Rosario, Kevin dos Santos, Clément Bayiha and Oussama Alou in the 58th minute. The substitutes did provide a spark, with each of them quickly getting involved offensively and creating some chances, but York would have no consolation on this difficult night for the club.
Things went from bad to worse for the Nine Stripes in the late moments of the match, as Mo Babouli was shown a red card on the York bench.
With the win, Forge jumps York and Cavalry in the standings and is up into second place — three points behind first-place Pacific who have played two fewer matches.
BOX SCORE
Goals
25′ — Terran Campbell (Forge FC)
33′ — Terran Campbell (Forge FC)
47′ — Tristan Borges (Forge FC)
54′ — Terran Campbell (Forge FC)
Discipline
15′ — Yellow: Noah Jensen (Forge FC)
35′ — Yellow: Austin Ricci (York United)
36′ — Yellow: Malik Owolabi-Belewu (Forge FC)
45’+1 — Yellow: Manjrekar James (Forge FC)
63′ — Yellow: Rezart Rama (Forge FC)
85′ — Red: Mo Babouli (York United) (From Bench)
