Ok, so clearly the footy gods were not impressed that the Barton Street Battalion dug up Yorky from his unmarked grave beneath the renovated pitch at York Lions Stadium. Sometimes an L is worth it though.
But how bad was this game by Forge? Weirdly, not that bad. Now I will preface this piece by pointing out that Forge has a weird thing about beating the also-rans in the CPL. Their best record is against a CPL team is the Tridents. They struggled to win against HFX until this year, and Edmonton was the early bogey team for the Forge. So when you struggle to beat the bottom, York United is always going to be a problem.
Ok, digs over. And in fairness, United came to play. Early, and against the run of play, they turned a beautiful cross by Paris Gee into a beautiful one-touch finish by DeRosario. Forge, and the crowd were shocked. And the York supporters who made the trip to the Hammer were in full voice.
Forge did carry the play to United for extended spells after that. And they had their chances, including a Pacius crossbar, and the best one falling to Choiniere, who took a perfect crossing position and instead fired on goal, only to have a great reaction from Himaras turn the ball on to a post and out.
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Forge was able to tie the game up on a wonderful short corner, (which I have complained about them taking too many of), and the left foot of a patient Borges smashed a postage stamp finish.
Forge created some more opportunities but unfortunately, beyond a couple of routine saves and some high and wide shots, the Forge was kept off the scoresheet.
But York United had more to come. First, it was N’sa holding his patience, much like Borges had, when ironically he waited out Borges and then fired a beauty past Henry. The celebration in front of the Battalion was energetic, to say the least. And well-earned too.
It stood in stark contrast however to the final tally. Mo Babouli was freed on the counter by a lovely ball from Verhoeven and he finished with the kind of aplomb Forge fans became accustomed to in Orange, not Blue-Green. His quick kiss of the badge and understated reaction seemed to suggest he remembered those past moments fondly as well.
In the end, the better team won. The scoreline was perhaps a bit unkind, as were the goalposts. But in a league with so much quality, teams can’t afford to be wasteful. And Forge was only able to put 3 of their ten shots on frame, while York doubled that with only 8 strikes. And 3 of those found the back of the net.
Time for Bobby’s boys to regroup and get serious down the stretch. Though they have a couple of games in hand, those are only meaningful if you can win them. And with a big test up next, Atletico Ottawa won’t want to be the team to let Forge break out of this funk. The top of the table beckons both. August 27th is going to be fun.
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