| Final Score: Forge FC 1-0 Halifax Wanderers FC Goalscorers: Babouli 81' Game of the 2025 season: 87 CPL Match: 682 | |
|---|---|
Match in a minute or less
Forge FC bounced back from last week's defeat with a gritty 1-0 win over the Halifax Wanderers on Saturday at Hamilton Stadium, thanks in large part to an 81st-minute winner from Mo Babouli.
A scoreless first half saw Forge's Dan Nimick miss a penalty, as neither team could yet solve one another despite jabs at both ends. In the end, though, Babouli got on the end of a well-placed Nana Ampomah cross to score the match's only goal, sinking the Wanderers and keeping Forge ahead of the pack in the CPL table.
With his 11th clean sheet of the campaign, Forge goalkeeper Jassem Koleilat also made history on the afternoon, setting a new CPL record for shutouts in a single season.
Three Observations
Forge adjust after lacklustre first half, find a way through for key character win
It was absolutely vital for Forge that they respond after an uncharacteristically poor showing against Cavalry last weekend.
This game wasn't necessarily their most impressive performance; at no point were they truly dominant, as they have been on many occasions this year. However, more importantly than anything, they did what they needed to and found a way to get three points.
There were several occasions on the day where some teams might've lost steam and figured it just wasn't their day. Forge recovered well after a poor first half, including a missed penalty kick. In the second, they came millimetres from opening the scoring when a Brian Wright header smashed the crossbar, then the goal line, then didn't go in.
Even after the brief period at the start of the second half where things started to get chippy and physical, Forge remained laser-focused on the singular objective of scoring and winning the match somehow.
"It was important for us to do that, and get this result," Forge keeper Jassem Koleilat confirmed. "The first half was high-energy, but not high-execution, so that was a bit tricky. Halifax in the past three games have been unbelievable, and today they showed it again."
Head coach Bobby Smyrniotis agreed that they hadn't been very good in the first half, which prompted him to make some slight tactical adjustments at the break. In fact, they came out in a slightly less aggressive shape *—* Alex Achinioti-Jönsson had been stepping into midfield when they had the ball much more often in the first half — but the result was that Forge actually played more aggressively, going a bit more direct and playing more via Nana Ampomah along the right touchline.
The Hammers also have the benefit of having arguably the best bench in the Canadian Premier League, which allowed them to bring Wright, Noah Jensen, and Elimane Cissé into the game all at once for the final 20 minutes. All three provided instant energy, with Wright nearly scoring just a couple minutes into this shift, and Jensen was the one who played a great ball to Ampomah that led to the goal.
Forge know they're in a race for the CPL Shield, especially after Atlético Ottawa made up ground a week ago. They cannot afford to let much slip, and this was the performance of a team with championship ambition.
Even when you're not at your best, find a way.
Wanderers can't find the net despite spirited showing, positive tactical elements
For the past five matches now, Halifax have been playing with a relatively narrow attacking system featuring Sean Rea and Vitor Dias as dual number 10s, sitting just behind a central striker.
They've been fairly successful in that stretch; the Wanderers had scored 10 goals in the last three games heading into this one. Again on Saturday, both Rea and Dias were lively. In fact, Rea was arguably their best player in the first half, and in his 77-minute shift he had 10 touches in the box and six successful dribbles.
There's considerable value for Halifax in getting those two on the pitch in close quarters, because of their ability on the ball and creativity. They do lack some width, which became a problem at times against Forge, but nonetheless it's helped them provide better service to the striker — typically Tiago Coimbra, but Jason Bahamboula for this game due to Coimbra's injury.
"First, we get to have two good players on at the same time," Wanderers coach Patrice Gheisar explained about his system. "You could talk about all the tactics in the world, but sometimes having creative players on the field at the same time will just increase the quality of the team. You could see the difficulties that Forge had when we had it going, it allows [Rea and Dias] to create wide overloads, numerical advantages. One of them looks to run behind, and one looks to dribble. I think they complement each other quite well to pose threats."
However, the Wanderers' recently red-hot attack was kept silent in Hamilton, as they weren't quite able to get the ball to Bahamboula in unmarked situations as much as they wanted to.
"You say [when it's] your best game of the season, you say your worst game of the season, and there's a middle," Gheisar said.
"Definitely, we were well above the middle. You're playing a team that has just one loss, you're at their home. We limited many, many opportunities. We took the ball to them a lot, especially earlier in the first half. I don't think you could say they were the better team. ... But it's about goals. You've got to score."
The Wanderers didn't take advantage of the early stage of the match where they were the better side, and ultimately paid a price for it.
After watching York United beat Cavalry on Friday night, the Wanderers' margin for error is razor-thin if they hope to ensure they have a home game in the playoffs.
They'll head to Calgary next, for arguably their biggest away game of the season. If Halifax can beat the Cavs, they'll take pole position in the race for third place. If not, and they fall behind York, it'll be a tough battle in the last month of the campaign.
Forge's defensive commitment shines as Koleilat sets new clean sheet record
Jassem Koleilat is the man of the hour in Hamilton, as his 11th clean sheet of the 2025 regular season passes the 10 that both Triston Henry and Marco Carducci recorded back in 2022.
The Forge goalkeeper has provided some stellar moments this season and made countless big saves, though he only needed to make one in Saturday's match.
He made sure to shout out his teammates postmatch, quipping that he thinks he's pulled his own weight this season, but that they've also played a massive role in Forge's defensive success this season. They've conceded just 17 goals in 22 matches so far, which means they've got a shot at a new club record: the current fewest in a 28-game season is 24, set in 2022 (the league record in Cavalry's 19 from 2019).
On Saturday against the Wanderers, Forge absolutely came under threat on a handful of occasions, but their defensive shape helped keep Halifax's attackers away from dangerous shooting areas. The visitors had nine shots, but just one of them was on target; just one was anywhere near the six-yard box, and that was Reshaun Walkes' attempted bicycle kick in the 94th minute.
Bobby Smyrniotis guessed, candidly, that his side spends less than 20 per cent of their time in training working on defending, instead choosing to focus on what they do with the ball. Of course, the more they have the ball the less they have to defend.
One thing is clear, though: defending is a mentality more than anything. It's a commitment to a tactical structure and to responsibilities.
"It's a mindset," Smyrniotis said. "It's something we discuss more, it's a mentality. It's something you either do or you don't, and when you don't, be prepared for what's gonna be the result of it. ... One thing we talked about in the off-season was we wanted to get back to being a more defensively sound team."
They certainly have done that. They appear to have settled into a first-choice backline, with Rezart Rama and Marko Jevremović at right- and left-back, respectively, and Nimick and Achinioti-Jönsson in the middle. The chemistry has developed nicely between those four, and with Koleilat, which means each player trusts the others enough to focus fully on his own positioning, without needing to worry whether the other spaces will be covered or not.
After a game in Calgary where Forge gave the ball away far too easily, they seemed to iron out those bad habits extremely well on Saturday against Halifax.
What They Said
"What I really like is the response in the second half. ... We're a lot more aggressive; we changed our defensive shape, and although we were playing in a more aggressive formation before, we actually got more aggressive this way, it helped us out." — Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"We started off really strong. We created a lot of chances, and I think that's where we need to be better. We need to bury those right away, and we could've had two or three in the first 30 minutes of the game. They're a good team, so they make us pay later on." — Halifax Wanderers forward Sean Rea
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Nana Ampomah, Forge FC
The Ghanaian winger was the most dangerous outlet for Forge in this match, playing provider for all three of their major attacking moments. He won the penalty, sent in the cross for Wright's chance that bounced off the goal line, then finally assisted Babouli's winner. Ampomah had seven touches in the box and created two chances.
What’s next?
Next up for Forge is a rare Thursday night game, which they'll play in Winnipeg against Valour FC on Sept. 11 (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT). Halifax, meanwhile, will head to Alberta for a clash with Cavalry FC on Saturday, Sept. 13 (4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT).
Watch all CPL and Canadian Championship matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.