Forge FC came as advertised on Wednesday night.
The Canadian Premier League’s stingiest club stifled the HFX Wanderers on their home pitch, allowing just one shot on target in a 1-0 win which snapped the Wanderers’ 10-game unbeaten string.
It was the first-ever victory for the two-time defending league champion Forge at the Wanderers Grounds. The match was chippy at times with seven yellow cards in total handed out.
“It’s no fluke that you’re playing against the back-to-back champions,” Wanderers head coach Stephen Hart said. “It’s never going to be easy.”
Forge (12-7-1), with its third consecutive clean sheet, has allowed a league-low 16 goals. They move into second place in the CPL table, two points back of first-place Pacific FC.
Their lone goal came in the 25th minute off the heel of Mo Babouli.
Omar Browne charged toward the goal line and looked as if he would run out of real estate. But the Forge forward was able to squeeze the ball between Wanderers keeper Kieran Baskett and the post to an open Babouli, who rolled the ball backwards into the open cage.
Wanderers star striker Joao Morelli, the league’s leading scorer with 14 goals, had the best chance to put his club on the board in the first half. His free kick in extra time curled around the Forge wall but grazed the outside of the left post.
The Wanderers managed to fire eight shots in the match. But only one did Forge keeper Triston Henry had to stop.
“I think we started a bit slow,” Wanderers midfielder Pierre Lamothe said. “The first half was pretty hard. The movement of players in the first half wasn’t enough. We couldn’t hold the ball enough. We’re disappointed in the result.”
“We weren’t as precise as we should have been,” Hart added. “When we got into good parts of the field, we seem to rush that final pass. When we did find our footing and moved the ball into wide areas and put some pressure, we didn’t really create enough chances to equalize.”
The Halifax side remains outside the playoff bubble in fifth place with a 7-7-8 record, one point back of York United. But York has a game in hand. The Wanderers next play Monday afternoon when they host Pacific.
“There’s still a lot of games left; our season doesn’t end tonight,” Lamothe said. “It’s a disappointing result but we’ll keep going because it’s not done.”
CANADIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Forge stifle Wanderers in chippy match | Saltwire - SaltWire Network
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