RECAP + HIGHLIGHTS: Forge FC vs. Atlético Ottawa | August 17, 2025

Forge FC strengthened their grip on first place in the Canadian Premier League on Sunday, as they beat second-place challengers Atlético Ottawa 2-0 at Hamilton Stadium to increase the gap to four points.

Billed as a heavyweight clash between the league's top two sides, it was the Hamilton side who were effective early and often, as Forge rolled to all three points.

The Hammers nearly broke the game open after about a quarter of an hour,when they found a moment to up the pace. Alessandro Hojabrpour feathered an excellent ball from midfield over the top of Ottawa's defence to Brian Wright, who took it down well and was in on goal alone. However, with a defender hounding him, Wright couldn't bury the finish and his shot clipped the goalpost to stay out of the net.

The home side kept pushing though, and eventually found the opening goal. Tristan Borges floated a cross into the box that found an Ottawa head but remained in the area and skipped past Gabriel Antinoro, right to Kyle Bekker. The Forge captain brought it down and knocked it to the edge of the box, turning toward goal and lacing an excellent shot through traffic into the right side of the net.

Over the next 20 minutes, Forge generated another handful of excellent chances, but their finishing let them down as they squandered some golden opportunities. Ottawa, meanwhile, had their best chance of the half just before the 40th minute, as a Kevin Dos Santos cross hit the crossbar and nearly landed for Sam Salter on the doorstep, but Jassem Koleilat pounced on it for Forge.

Atleti had some further bad news at halftime, as young defender Noah Abatneh had to leave the game with injury, prompting an early introduction for Brett Levis into Ottawa's back three.

Ten minutes into the second frame, Forge found their second tally. They surged forward through a moment of disorganization from Ottawa, as Marko Jevremović drove toward the box and sent a clever pass in to Wright, who made no mistake of this one-on-one chance against the keeper. He buried it to his right side to double Forge's lead with his eighth goal of the CPL campaign.

With 15 minutes to play, Ottawa found a lifeline, as Ballou Tabla got into the box and Forge's Hoce Massunda pulled him down clumsily, conceding a penalty kick. However, Tabla himself stepped up to take the penalty, and he put the ball well over the bar, as Atleti remained two goals behind.

Atleti never gave up their attempts to find at least one goal, but Forge — via a combination of well-organized defending and some timely interventions by Jassem Koleilat — held them at bay.

So, the victory went to Hamilton, who now find themselves comfortably atop the league table, and still unbeaten after 19 games of CPL action this year.

BOX SCORE

Lineups

Forge FC: Koleilat; Rama, Nimick, Achinioti-Jönsson, Jevremović (Paton 85'); Borges (Jensen 72'), Hojabrpour, Bekker (Bruno 90+2'); Massunda, Wright (Cissé 72'), Babouli (Koné 85')

Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Duhaney-Walker, Abatneh (Levis 46'), Kozlovskiy; Antinoro (Coulanges 74'), Aparicio (Ortega 88'), Castro (Sissoko 74'), Dos Santos (Álvarez 60'); Rodríguez, Salter, Tabla

Goals

*24' — Kyle Bekker (Forge FC)
*55' — Brian Wright (Forge FC)

Discipline

*36' — Yellow: Manny Aparicio (Atlético Ottawa)
**45' — Yellow: Dan Nimick (Forge FC)
**49' — Yellow: Juan Castro (Atlético Ottawa)
**82' — Yellow: Alessandro Hojabrpour (Forge FC)
**84' — Yellow: Sam Salter (Atlético Ottawa)
**90+3' — Yellow: Sergei Kozlvoskiy (Atlético Ottawa)
*90+4' — Yellow: Amadou Koné (Forge FC)