Final Score: Forge FC FC 2-0 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: Nimick 78' (PK), Ampomah 81'
Game of the 2025 season: 56
CPL Match: 652
Match in a minute or less
Forge FC made it 15 straight league matches without defeat on Friday night, setting a new league record in that regard with a 2-0 win over Pacific FC at Hamilton Stadium.
The first half was scoreless, with Forge outshooting Pacific 9-0 but struggling to find the target and testing Sean Melvin just twice. Forge scored twice in quick succession late, though, to ensure they left with all three points -- first a well-taken penalty by Dan Nimick in the 78th minute, followed by a tap-in from Nana Ampomah three minutes later.
The Hammers remain in second place with Ottawa beating Halifax as well on Friday evening, but take confidence into next week's date with the Wanderers after making CPL history once again.
Three Observations
Forge make it 15 straight unbeaten, setting new CPL record
As a result of Friday night’s victory, Forge FC has set a new Canadian Premier League record with their 15th consecutive league match without a loss.
The previous record was 14 games, set by the Hammers in the CPL’s inaugural 2019 season. That year, they won 10 of 14 matches and drew the rest between July 13 and October 6, before rivals Cavalry FC eventually beat them at ATCO Field on October 9. They followed that up with a heavy 4-0 loss to York United (then York9) before beating the Cavs on the final day of the regular season and then twice more in the CPL Final to become the league’s first champions.
Having made it to every subsequent CPL Final thus far, it goes without saying that Bobby Smyrniotis’ side want to play for the North Star Cup again in 2025 in an unprecedented seventh-straight final, and Friday’s result is a statement of intent that they are still the league’s elite club. Despite this, left back Ben Paton said in the leadup to the match that the club still has another level to reach, something Dan Nimick echoed postgame, and they did show signs of that throughout the match after keeping another clean sheet.
They will end the weekend in second place as a result of Atlético Ottawa winning at home against Halifax as well on Friday night. They continue to put the pressure on the league leaders though as they look to repeat as CPL Shield winners in the regular season before then challenging for the North Star Cup in the playoffs -- but last week's 1-1 draw in the capital will certainly be seen as a missed opportunity to overtake Ottawa.
No team has won the regular season and playoff double yet in the CPL, and with Forge also into the Canadian Championship semi-finals, they could remarkably be heading toward their greatest campaign yet.
There’s plenty of football left to play this year, but no CPL club has ever started a season quite like this.
Pacific’s goalscoring surge dries up, partly due to lack of a striker from the start
Having scored seven goals in their last two games, questions were being asked about if Pacific's attack -- which had been held off the scoresheet in five of the six prior matches -- had turned a page and started to find its footing.
That did not seem to be the case on Friday night, with the Tridents held off the scoresheet. Their first shot attempts of the game did not come until the second half, when Kadin Chung and Yann Toualy both fired shots over the crossbar. Their first attempt on target was in the 71st minute when Aly Ndom headed the ball on target from a corner kick, which Jassem Koleilat was able to save comfortably.
While the second half was much more positive than the first, Pacific was still limited mostly to those relatively low-quality chances. In the end they had five shots in total in the second half, but Ndom's header was the lone attempt that called on the Forge goalkeeper.
James Merriman explained after the match that he knew his side would struggle at times with their attack in this match, as they did not start a natural striker. Marco Bustos was up top for the Tridents with Aidan Daniels and Yann Toualy on other side of him -- a front three that is talented on the ball and capable of creating some moments of magic, but not one that is particuarly physically imposing or one that stretched the Forge backline with their pace. The lack of goals and shots is largely down to a lack of chances created, and for large stretches of the match it was the hosts who were able to dominate possession of the ball and create those chances for themselves.
Pacific was missing Josh Heard for this match through suspension for yellow card accumulation, and neither Dario Zanatta or Emanuel Montejano has been able to make that striker position their own through the first half of the season. Both came on in the second half as Merriman rolled the dice, but they were not able to cut into Forge's advantage.
With the transfer window opening up next week, adding reinforcements may be on the cards for Merriman's side as they look to address that number nine position and get back to the high-scoring team they had shown flashes of over the past two weeks.
Nimick clinical from the spot again to spark late onslaught
According to Dan Nimick, he didn't know he was such an effective penalty taker until he reached the professional level with the Halifax Wanderers in 2023.
On Friday night at Hamilton Stadium, Nimick scored his second penalty of the season to win Forge FC all three points and extend their record unbeaten run. Powerfully picking out the top right corner of Sean Melvin's net, Nimick looked confident from the moment he picked up the ball to the moment he was wheeling away in celebration -- as he often does in such situations.
It was his 13th conversion in 15 attempts over two-and-a-half CPL campaigns as he continues to establish himself as arguably the best penalty taker in the country. One of his two misses came earlier this season against Valour FC goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi, and it was actually Viscosi who was in net for the other one as well, in a game last season where Nimick score twice from the spot as a member of the Wanderers but was denied an incredibly rare hat trick.
Forge looked sharper after making a couple of substitutions five minutes earlier to bring on David Choinière and Noah Jensen, and Nimick's goal seemed to spark even more life into his side. Three minutes after the penalty Forge found the back of the net again to make it 2-0. Choinière forced a save out of Melvin after getting onto the end of a Kyle Bekker cross before the ball fell to Nana Ampomah -- who was lively all night -- for an easy tap-in to double his side's advantage.
When some teams might choose to play for a draw when the game reaches 75 minutes at 0-0, Forge has the squad depth and collective desire to hunt for more, and once again they were rewarded in front of their home fans.
What They Said
"We take a lot of pride in doing some special things around here at Forge. [It's] a record we didn't talk about much, but obviously now that it's done, it's great. I told the guys inside [the dressing room], and I congratulated them. Beating Forge of 2019's record and reminding them that the records are made to be broken so let's keep on going." -- Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"The match plan was clear. We would have liked to be a little bit cleaner at moments to get out of the pressure and attack. There were some really good moments for us to counter that I don't think we took advantage of, but we're fighting, and I think we made it a difficult game." -- Pacific FC head coach James Merriman
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Dan Nimick, Forge FC
Nimick led the Forge FC backline to a clean sheet, and scored the winning goal from the penalty spot.
What’s next?
Forge FC hit the road for a trip to the east coast next week, visiting the Halifax Wanderers on Friday night (7 p.m. AT/6 p.m. ET), while Pacific return home to take on Atlético Ottawa on Sunday (5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET).
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