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Photo Credit: Jojo Yanjiao Qian
Forge 3-0 Ottawa: Borges Brace Downs Ottleti
By After losing their last three games against Atletico Ottawa, Forge got back to winning ways against the capital club on Saturday, winning 3-0 at home. It was their seventh home win of the term, the most in the league.
Forge’s last match came the Sunday prior in Winnipeg as they fell 2-1 to Valour. Despite the defeat, there were no changes to the starting eleven. However, head coach Bobby Smyrniotis was not on the touchline due to suspension.
As for Ottawa, who went into the match four points ahead of their opponents, they fell 2-1 at home to Cavalry last Saturday. As such, coach Carlos Gonzalez elected to make two changes to the eleven in an attempt to put an end to his side’s three-game winless skid.
The hosts got the first chance of the match in the ninth minute via a Daniel Parra cross. Tristan Borges got his foot to the ball, but his strike came off the post. Rayane Yesli was beaten by the shot, and can thank his goal post for not conceding early on.
It took the Hammers 20 minutes to get on the scoresheet. A shot from Nana Ampomah at the edge of the area was saved by Yesli, but Borges was there to fire the ball home off the rebound. The attacker hit the follow-up first-time off his weaker foot to slam the ball home.
Despite having four shots in the opening half, Ottawa failed to truly give the Forge defense much to worry about. Ruben Del Campo’s attempt in the 38th minute was probably their best opportunity. His shot, however, was straight at Christopher Kalongo.
Not even a minute after Del Campo’s shot, Forge made it 2-0. Ampomah tried his luck once more, with his shot being deflected and going straight to Borges. Once again, the Forge number 19 made no mistake as he slot the ball home, with a slight deflection coming off of Tyr Walker.
With a few minutes to go before the half, Borges found David Choiniere, who crashed his effort off the post. It was another good opportunity for the Hamiltonians to really put the game to bed.
Ottawa got the first good chance of the second half, as Amer Didic’s header forced a good save out of Kalongo who had to get down low.
On hat-trick watch, Borges clearly wanted to complete a trio of goals. In the 59th minute, he wriggled away from a couple of Ottleti defenders to get a shot off. Unfortunately for Borges, Yesli was equal to it, making a diving stop to maintain some hope for the visitors.
With eleven minutes to play, Manny Aparicio tried his luck from distance. To the midfielder’s credit, his attempt did not miss by much, going just over the bar. Kalongo may not have looked worried, but it was closer than he would have wanted it to be.
Forge iced the game in the last 10 minutes with a well worked counter. Alessandro Hojabrpour played a pass to Elimane Cisse with the outside of his foot. Cisse took a rather heavy touch, but still managed to get his shot off, chipping Yesli to score the game’s third goal.
In the end, the hosts came out victorious, and now goes into second place temporarily. Should they win their next game at home to HFX Wanderers on Wednesday, Forge will have the lead in the standings.
For Ottawa, who has now lost three in a row, they remain in the lead for the time being. Their next match is away to Pacific next Sunday. They will have to turn their fortunes around very quickly if they wish to stay in the lead.
