HIGHLIGHTS: Forge FC vs. Valour FC (July 15, 2023) | Presented by tonybet

A rainy night at Tim Hortons Field saw Forge FC and Valour FC battle to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night, as the two sides shared the spoils after Klaidi Cela’s late goal cancelled out an earlier second-half marker from Terran Campbell.

Unfortunately for Valour, the game plan had to be changed pretty early in the game, when Matteo De Brienne — playing at left fullback in a 3-4-3 formation — went down with an injury to his left leg about 15 minutes in. So, coach Phillip Dos Santos had no choice but to bring Eskander Mzoughi to play on the left.

Both sides had their share of chances in the first half, with Forge having the better share — including a Noah Jensen shot from distance that stung the keeper’s palms, plus a similarly dangerous long-range effort from Kyle Bekker. Valour were lively in transition as usual, but neither side was able to find the touches in the box they were looking for as the game remained scoreless heading into halftime.

Just before the break, the match saw another pair of injury substitutions. Forge’s own left-back Dom Samuel went down with what looked like a cramp, forcing Bobby Smyrniotis to bring in Kwasi Poku in stoppage time. On Valour’s end, star midfielder Diego Gutiérrez also pulled up, and it was Klaidi Cela who came into the game moments before the referee blew for halftime.

Early in the second half, as the heavens opened and torrential rain began to fall, Forge pressed forward and seemed to open the scoring in the 55th minute, as Kyle Bekker’s shot hit the near post and bounced around in the six-yard box, falling for Terran Campbell who finished it easily — but the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside. After some extensive discussion between the referee and his assistant, trying to determine if Campbell had indeed been offside; the officials decided to let the call stand, and the score remained 0-0.

Ten minutes later, though, Forge had their moment. David Choinière received the ball on the right touchline and sent a long ball over the top to a running Terran Campbell, who allowed the ball to take a fortunate bounce over Cela’s head and ran onto it, finishing past Rayane Yesli to put the hosts ahead.

With just five minutes to go in the 90, though, the visitors drew level; Valour won a corner in front of the Barton St. Battalion, and Kian Williams picked out an in-swinging cross, finding the head of the former Forge defender Cela for the equalizer.

Although both sides had opportunities to go back in front — including three consecutive corners for Forge in stoppage time — they’d have to split the points, finishing in a 1-1 draw that keeps both sides in their original place in the standings (third for Forge and seventh for Valour).

BOX SCORE

Goals

66′ — Terran Campbell (Forge FC)
85′ — Klaidi Cela (Valour FC)

Discipline

71′ — Yellow: Eskander Mzoughi (Valour FC)
82′ — Yellow: Dante Campbell (Valour FC)
89′ — Yellow: Andy Baquero (Valour FC)