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Photo Credit: John Jacques
Inter Toronto 1-4 Forge: Hammers Prevail In 905 Derby
By The first 905 Derby of the season goes Forge’s way.
Making the short visit from Hamilton, the league leaders defeated Inter Toronto 4-1 at York Lions Stadium on Sunday to maintain top spot in the league table.
Toronto, coming off a 1 – 3 away loss to Supra last time out, made four changes to their starting eleven in an attempt to get back to winning ways. The most significant of the lot saw former Forge attacker Beni Badibanga start the match.
As for Forge, they saw off Cavalry 1-0 at home, taking them back to first spot in the league standings. With this in mind, the Hamiltonians maintained the same lineup that started the previous Sunday’s clash.
In what was a chippy start to the contest, Forge looked the more dangerous side going forward. They nearly went in front 11 minutes in when Mo Babouli shot from close range, just dragging his effort wide of the post.
Not long thereafter, the Hammers took the lead. Having won a free kick from quite a distance away, Marko Jevremovic stepped up and curled a strike that beat Diego Urtiaga. The Mexican keeper got a hand on it, but could not keep it out.
A little less than 10 minutes later, the lead was doubled. From a corner, Urtiaga failed to properly clear his lines, with a goalmouth scramble occurring before Hoce Massunda’s eventual shot found its way over the line.
Forge created much in the opening half, and could have added more to their lead. Babouli was picked out by Borges in the box and went for an acrobatic shot. Urtiaga did well to keep it out, denying the former Inter Toronto man a brilliant goal.
The home side did not have many meaningful chances in the first 45. Badibanga went for an overhead kick that failed to hit the target. Then, their best chance came moments later, when the Belgian found Raul Lopez at the back post. His shot, however, was kept out by Dmitry Bertaud.
Using half time to try and come up with adjustments, Toronto got on the board less than two minutes after the restart. Julian Altobelli was afforded enough space to look up and find Max Ferrari with a perfect cross-field pass. The wide man finished with aplomb, putting his shot between Bertaud’s legs and into the net to halve the deficit.
Unfortunately for the Nine Stripes, their hope did not last very long. Forge’s response was swift, as they re-established their two-goal cushion almost immediately. They caught their opponents out when trying to play out for the back, allowing for Tristan Borges to fire past Urtiaga, who once again got something on the ball but couldn’t keep it out.
It was nearly 4-1, when Ben Paton’s effort was denied by Urtiaga. Maxime Filion was there to collect the rebound and convert, but the striker found himself just offside.
With 20 minutes to go, Forge completed the scoring. It came from another corner, as Paton nodded the header towards goal. It came off the post, then off Urtiaga, before going in.
Overall, the Hammers had 26 attempts in the match to the Nine Stripes’ 10. Nana Ampomah, who saw his first CPL action for the year, saw an attempt from distance crash off the crossbar and stay out.
It was Forge’s seventh win of the league campaign – one against each side – as they stay ahead on 22 points. With Sunday’s win, the Hamiltonians are the quickest to prevail over the other seven teams in the league, needing just nine games to do so. Their last game before the World Cup break will come against HFX Wanderers on Wednesday.
As for Toronto, now winless in their last three, they still hold onto third place. They will also be at home in their final game before the break, with Cavalry making the trip to York Lions Stadium on Wednesday night.
Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques
