TORONTO – A few days removed from their win over Cavalry FC in the first leg of the Canadian Premier League Finals, Forge FC are feeling pretty good about the result. Tristan Borges scored the only goal in a 1-0 win with a lovely strike that picked out the far corner just before halftime. Though no other goals were scored, there was plenty of drama left in the match, including a controversial red card that saw Borges, leading the Golden Boot race, set to miss the second leg should the appeal go unheeded. However, on Thursday Forge received the welcome news that their leading scorer will indeed take to the pitch in Leg 2, after Canada Soccer announced its decision to overturn his red card. “It’s a good result, it’s a place you want to be,” said Forge boss Bobby Smyrniotis on Tuesday after training. “You want to have a win coming out of the first game and you’d like to keep a clean sheet in the back. We’ve done that.” “We had a very good performance, a dominant performance,” he added. “That’s good for the mood in the changeroom. We could have had another one, but you don’t look back on those. “You see what we’ve done in these last few games against Cavalry, so we’ve got a lot of positives and we keep that rolling into the next one.”
RELATED READING: DEBATE: Who will win it all in Leg 2 of Finals 2019?
For two Forge players, Dominic Samuel and Bertrand Owundi, who missed the first match through suspension – a red card and caution accumulation, respectively – it was a unique, not-entirely-pleasant experience cheering their side on from the stands, aside from the result. “Yeah, it’s kind of weird,” admitted Samuel. “We played well and we won, the atmosphere was unbelievable, but any player would love to be on the field. “I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it very much.” Echoed Owundi: “It’s not easy to have these kind of moments. It’s good to be on the pitch, but sometimes it’s not possible. I was happy because my teammates did well. “If you don’t play, but the team wins, that is the most important.” One can only imagine the roller-coaster of emotions a player goes through watching his team play in a match with such swings of mood. “First (Kyle) Bekker hits the crossbar, Daniel (Krutzen) hits the crossbar on a free-kick,” recalled Samuel. “Borges missed the PK – I thought that was for sure a goal. “It was mixed emotions for that first half, but once we got that goal, I was really excited and very confident that we’d come out, maintain that, and get the win.” Samuel took in each half from a different vantage point. “For the first half I was in the stands with the supporters group, the Barton Street Battalion, in the corner,” said the defender. “I was there watching it with them. “That was a pretty cool experience. I was trying to get the crowd as hyped as possible to cheer us on, to throw Cavalry off. It was good to see it from that perspective. For the second half I went up and sat in a box, watched it from there.” > [
](https://www.instagram.com/p/B4LF6EvnNTX/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
A post shared by Barton St. Battalion (@bartonstbattalion) on Oct 28, 2019 at 12:17pm PDT
That last trip out west on October 9 was indeed a frigid one, with Cavalry winning 2-1 and Dominique Malonga netting a brace.
Inclement weather aside, matches at ATCO Field have tilted in Cavalry’s favour with two wins to the home side and one to Forge back in June, when Bekker struck early. They expect another frosty reception. “It’s hostile to be honest, really hostile,” leveled Samuel. “But we go into every game just to win. So no matter what the atmosphere is like, no matter what the conditions are, we have to go out there, put in 110% effort, to do what we have to do to get it done. “I’m expecting cool weather – I heard it’s not supposed to be that bad, especially (midday). Hopefully the pitch is decent and not frozen like it was the last game we had there.” A little snow never hurt anyone. “Nah, nah,” concurred Samuel. “It’s not ideal, but if it does snow, then it snows.”