July 9, 2023...Match Analysis: Forge drop four on York United during dominant road performance (from canpl.ca)
MATCH ANALYSIS: Forge drop four on York United during dominant road performance
2023-07-09
by MITCHELL TIERNEY, DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER (@MITCHELLTIERNEY)
Final Score: York United 0-4 Forge FC
Goalscorers: Campbell 25', 33' 54', Borges 47'
Game of the 2023 season: 55
CPL match: 422
Match in a minute or less
After an ugly stretch of results, Forge FC were back to their usual dominant selves on Sunday night
— picking up their biggest win of the 2023 season 4-0 against rivals York United at York Lions Stadium.
Terran Campbell recorded his first CPL hat trick, while Tristan Borges added a goal early in the second
half. Triston Henry made a pair of saves as Forge kept their first clean sheet in seven matches.
The win puts Forge just three points behind league leaders Pacific, albeit having played two more
matches than the Tridents. They jumped York in the standings as a result, as the Nine Stripes are now
mired a little bit in their own slump having won just once in the last five matches.
Three Observations
Early goal, attacking in numbers, contribute to an offensive outburst for Forge
For the first time in seven matches, and just the fourth time this season, Forge FC scored the opening
goal of the match on Sunday night. That goal, a rebound effort from Campbell, ignited the most dominant
performance of the season to date for Forge, who really needed it after their recent struggles.
The Hamilton side came into this match as one of the league leaders in all of the offensive metrics,
minus the most important — goals scored. On Sunday night, the dam burst for them in York as they fired
four past Niko Giantsopoulos, with a further two hitting the woodwork.
“We know if you continue to do the right things, good things happen, and it has been a tough spell for
us the last few games,” said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. “This one was well needed.”
The return of Alessandro Hojabrpour, who had not played in the last four matches, was critical to the
balance of the midfield as it allowed Kyle Bekker and Noah Jensen to get further up the pitch and support
the club’s attacking players. Having overwhelming numbers in attack was a consistent theme for Forge
during the match, as evidenced by the first goal.
Borges’ first-time cross is initially missed by Rezart Rama, but Jordan Hamilton is there at the back
post to fire a shot. Then when his effort is saved, Campbell is on hand to tap home. It is these kinds
of numbers in the box that lessen the opportunity for the sort of ‘bad luck’ finishing that has plagued
Forge of late.
“You look at those goals we scored, I think there’s more than four players in and around the box,”
said Smyrniotis. “Then when you are getting into deep positions when there are cutbacks, balls
to the back post, you may have a rebound. When those things happen you need to make sure you are
playing the percentages. The percentages say, more than four players are going to increase your
percentage of scoring a goal.”
That first goal was also important emotionally for the team, as it allowed them to play with the sort
of attacking confidence and belief they have lacked of late.
Terran Campbell continues to be Forge’s most prolific player as he records his first CPL hat trick
It is fair to say Terran Campbell’s first season with Forge last year didn’t exactly go to plan.
The league’s all-time leading goalscorer came into Hamilton fresh off lifting the North Star Shield
during a campaign in which he finished third in league scoring with 11 goals. It seemed like the
league’s most prolific scorer leading the line of the league’s most historically prolific teams would
be an instant success.
Campbell, however, would score just six goals in his first season with Forge, which came in braces
scored over three separate games. By the end of the year, he had been dropped to the bench,
and played just 14 minutes during the CPL playoffs as Woobens Pacius was preferred up top.
Through 15 matches in 2023, however, Campbell has already surpassed that total with seven goals.
That tally puts him in a tie with Cavalry’s Myer Bevan for the league lead. Five of those goals,
incidentally, have now come against York United.
“Coming to a new team just takes time to get comfortable, so sometimes longer than expected,”
said Campbell. “I’m just getting into a good comfort zone right now, I’m able to play number nine,
so things are good.”
A big part of that is positional, as last year Campbell often found himself out wide and struggled
to make an impact. Even when Pacius, or today Jordan Hamilton, are in the team, however, Campbell
is almost always deployed through the middle. That is where he can best get himself into good positions
and make the sort of central runs that have made him such a prolific scorer in this league.
His shot chart from Sunday night’s match is featured below, showing the quality of opportunities he had,
firing six shot attempts, resulting in the three goals and 1.63 expected goals.
“Including him, he has seven goals and he hasn’t even gotten started,” said Smyrniotis. “That has kind
of been the story of our front, we haven’t really gotten started. A lot of the guys have [more] goals
in them.”
If Campbell can continue to be prolific, especially given the number of chances that Forge has been creating
in the box this season, he could be the answer to the team’s scoring woes. Now he just has to continue
to deliver consistently over the second half of the season.
Ugly night for York United, as they are handed an ‘eye-opening’ loss
Martin Nash described it as one of the worst performances, in the top two, during his time as York United’s
head coach. This one, in particular, was so stunning because of how well his side has mostly played this
season, sitting in third place coming into this match. But with just one win in their last five, the only
way forward now for York is to try to show they can learn from this harsh lesson.
“I think it’s a good eye-opener for us, that we can’t ever take our foot off the gas,” said York United
head coach Martin Nash. “When you take your foot off the gas this can happen, they are a quality side,
they are hurting right now as a group. They came here with the right attitude, on the front foot and took
it to us.”
He said his side was well aware of many of the dangers that Forge presented, but did not do nearly a good
enough job of dealing with them. He used the pockets of space that Borges was afforded, as well as the time
on the ball for Bekker as examples of what his team failed to address on the night.
If what was happening on the field wasn’t ugly enough for the Nine Stripes, late in the match key player
Mo Babouli — who was just back from serving a suspension due to yellow card accumulation — was shown
a red card while sitting on the bench.
York comes out of this weekend with the fewest points picked up at home in the entire league so far this
season, with just seven points in seven home matches thus far.
“At home, we just have to do a better job of dominating on our home turf, on our home field, and getting
three points any way we can,” said York fullback Paris Gee.
They will get another opportunity this coming Friday, albeit in another incredibly difficult challenge
as they host league-leaders Pacific FC, who have already defeated them twice in 2023 — both at Starlight Stadium.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Terran Campbell, Forge FC
His first-ever career hat trick, on six shot attempts, five of which were on target, highlighted
an excellent performance from the league’s all-time leading goalscorer.
What’s next?
York United remains at home, where they host league-leaders Pacific on Friday, July 14 (7:30 p.m. ET).
Forge, meanwhile, return home for a clash with Valour FC on Saturday, July 15 (7:00 p.m. ET).
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