Forge 1-0 CF Montreal: Hammers Grind Out Victory

For the second Canadian Championship home match in a row, Forge managed to come out on top versus MLS opposition.

The Hamiltonians earned a 1-0 victory at home to CF Montreal thanks to a late goal by Brian Wright, giving them the lead going into July’s return leg.

Forge made two changes from their school day match a week ago against Atletico Ottawa. Marko Jevremovic and Malik Owolabi-Belewu were brought in for Benjamin Paton and Khadim Kane. This saw Alexander Achiniotti-Jonsson play in a midfield role for the side.

For CF Montreal, interim coach Marco Donadel opted for a reset after the club’s 6-1 hiding at home to Toronto FC last weekend. Just four players maintained their places in the starting eleven, with former CPL players Jonathan Sirois, Victor Loturi, and Joel Waterman among those playing from the start.

In a first half void of big chances, the hosts thought they had scored 10 minutes. Molham Babouli clipped a cross to the back post that was attacked by two Forge players. Wright whiffed at his effort, but the ball found Noah Jensen. The midfielder converted from close range, but was then adjudged to have been offside.

A few minutes later, Kyle Bekker broke into the Montreal box and tried to pick out Babouli. Brandan Craig got in the way to take it off of the former York United man’s foot. Despite the ball staying in the box for a while, the opportunity went begging.

The visitors’ best chance of the opening 45 came late on. Tom Pearce did well to beat Rezart Rama, but his attempt went a bit high and wide of Jassem Koleilat’s net.

Neither side mustered a shot on target in the first half, with Forge having more attempts over all (4-2). Things did pick up in the second half, as both teams created a bit more. Still, the clear-cut chances were few.

With 15 minutes to go, the Hammers had another chance. After some well-worked build-up, Babouli initially tried to find Nana Ampomah, but the Ghanaian played a dummy. That set up Jensen for a first-time shot. However, Sirois was equal to it. Babouli’s follow-up effort hit the side netting.

The game’s only goal came a couple minutes later. Ampomah was again involved as he chipped his pass over the top to Wright. Sirois came off his goal, but could not get to the ball before the Forge striker. Wright knocked it forward before heading it beyond Craig and into the net.

Montreal failed to create anything of note after that, and so Forge held on for the one-goal victory. They will take that with them to Quebec less than two months from now. The second leg will be on July 9 at Stade Saputo.

Header Image Photo Credit: Canadian Premier League