Final Score: HFX Wanderers 2-1 Forge FC
Goalscorers: Ferrin 25′, Nimick 90 +10′; Bekker 88′
Game of the 2023 season: 48
CPL match: 415
Match in a minute or less
It was pure theatre at the Wanderers Grounds as a stoppage-time penalty from defender Daniel Nimick secured Halifax a third straight home victory in a 2-1 win over Forge FC on Friday night.
The winner came minutes after Forge captain Kyle Bekker had equalized in the 88th minute from an excellent long-range strike that looked to have earned the visitors a point. Massimo Ferrin opened the scoring with a brilliant strike of his own in the 25th minute, just as he did in the first meeting of the season between the two sides.
For three-time CPL champion Forge FC, the struggles continue as they have now won just once in their last seven matches. This is also the seventh straight match in which they have allowed the opening goal.
Three Observations
Full team defensive effort and work rate from Halifax results in third straight home victory
From his very first press conference in charge, Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar has been adamant that one of the most important keys to this club’s success is being outstanding at the Wanderers Grounds. He followed that up by setting an ambitious target for his group this season, of 30 points picked up in Nova Scotia.
In their pursuit of that mark, Halifax made club history on Friday evening by winning a third straight CPL match at home for the first time. They did so through an impressive team defensive performance, as players all over the pitch committed to working incredibly hard for the side.
“We had a good plan, the guys are committed, but that running is not easy to do, so I was really proud of the guys and the efforts that they brought in, and they were committed from the first to the last minute,” said Gheisar post-match.
This impressive defensive performance from Halifax started from the team’s front four. Young striker Tiago Coimbra showed his relentless energy by contesting 16 duels during the match. Ferrin on the wing, meanwhile, won 13 of 20 duels and made two interceptions.
Gheisar also mentioned that the work rate of his starting players was continued by those who replaced them off the bench, perhaps best exemplified by Riley Ferrazzo coming off the bench to win the decisive stoppage-time penalty kick.
The chart below shows the defensive actions put in by Halifax’s front four, and the players who replaced them off the bench.
“When you’ve got energy that the guys up front and the guys in the midfield can bring it makes Cale [Loughrey] and my job a lot easier, now we are just directing them and they can do the defending for us and it is nice,” said centre-back Daniel Nimick with a chuckle. “But yeah we said before the game with Forge they like to pass the ball, they like to create gaps and it was going to take a lot of energy.”
Commitment to playing out of the back creates attack moments for Halifax
It is unquestionably a risky proposition to try to play out of the back against one of the best pressing teams in the league, but it is exactly that bold and ultimately brave strategy that proved the difference in attack for Halifax against Forge.
When they won the ball back in their own third, the Wanderers rarely rushed to move it forward, instead allowing their attackers to get into advanced positions — usually on the wings and in behind the advanced Forge fullbacks, before playing it to them.
It was on one such sequence, a move that Halifax had worked on specifically on the training pitch this week, that they found their opening goal. Good ball movement at the back created space for Nimick to swing a long diagonal ball to Ferrin on the left flank. The winger brought it down brilliantly and then found the back of the net.
“I think we have grown as a team throughout the year where a couple of times we maybe overplayed when teams were pressing high and they were able to get chances off of that,” said Nimick. “I think we have learned now that a bit of directness can drop a team off and that gives us the space to start playing again. So I think we mixed it up well today. Obviously, Forge they are a well-organized team they have got a very well-organized press and I think it took a lot of courage and good decision-making to know when to play out and maybe when to stretch the play a little bit.”
GOAL! 🚨
Massimo Ferrin really said bangers only. 😤 @HFXWanderersFC take the lead against @ForgeFCHamilton #CanPL | @onesoccer
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) June 30, 2023
It didn’t always come off, as Forge won the ball back a stunning 10 times in the attacking third during the match. But the risk/reward strategy gave the hosts more of the latter on Friday evening.
“Listen, I can’t pretend that it doesn’t give me a little bit of a heart problem, because Lorenzo and Mo were doing give-and-gos in our six-yard box, but it is the style we want to play,” said Gheisar. “That seventh or eighth game when we were having good performances but not maybe the results that we wanted, the one thing we stressed to the guys was that we are not changing, we are not going away from our philosophy. This will only get better, believe in it, and we just have got to get behind it.”
Another tough start for Forge who continue a difficult run of form
After going undefeated and looking like they might run away with the league through their first seven matches of the season, Forge have now followed that with only a single win in their past seven.
There have been a number of reoccurring issues to point out for the Hamilton club over that stretch, but perhaps most pressing is their self-destructive streak of allowing the first goal. Ferrin’s 25th-minute opener made it seven straight matches that Forge’s opponent had scored first.
It is also the 10th time in 14 matches this season that their opponent has scored first. Forge has collected a league-leading nine points from losing positions so far this season, and was perhaps unlucky not to have earned a 10th in Halifax, but it is hardly a recipe for success to constantly be chasing matches.
“It is not a habit that we want to have, it’s not a habit that you want in the game and that’s the thing that’s tough,” said Forge FC manager Bobby Smyrniotis. You look at the end stats sheet and it is two shots on goal for Halifax, two goals. That can’t be the way that games roll for us. It is the bottom line, it is unacceptable from the group, it is something we just need to be better at.”
Three of Forge’s five victories this season have come by a score of 1-0. That is evidently an impossible result to achieve if they allow their opponents to score first, and knowing the vast majority of opponents are going to sit back against them, needing to make that push against a team who have something to fight for is hardly ideal.
“It is tough to win games when you keep [conceding first], obviously we have to work hard to keep the ball out of our net, it’s not good enough,” said Forge captain Bekker. “We know that, but it’s just the way it is going right now, so we’ve got to fix that.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Massimo Ferrin, Halifax Wanderers
It was an exceptional performance from Ferrin on both sides of the ball on Friday. He scored yet another excellent goal against Forge and was a constant threat cutting inside from the left, completing four dribbles, and taking four shots while also consistently providing cover defensively.
What’s next?
Halifax take their first trip to the Langley Events Centre to face expansion side Vancouver FC on Friday, July 7 at 11:00 p.m. AT/10:00 p.m. ET. Forge, meanwhile, are involved in another edition of the 905 derby on Sunday, July 9 as they head to York Lions Stadium to play York United (7:30 p.m. ET).
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