Final Score: Forge FC 1-1 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Wright 50′; Hundal 11′
Game of the 2025 season: 11
CPL match: 607

Match in a minute or less

Jonathan Viscosi was the late penalty-saving hero for Valour FC on Saturday at Hamilton Stadium, as the Winnipeg club claimed a 1-1 draw with Forge FC for their first point of the 2025 season.

Shaan Hundal opened the scoring for Valour early in the first half, and the visitors came close to adding to their advantage before Forge regrouped after halftime. Forge striker Brian Wright was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce off the crossbar that landed at his feet, and he made no mistake burying the equalizer for his first goal in an orange shirt.

Forge looked likely to win it in the 84th minute, as they won a penalty thanks to a handball in the box, but the usually-deadly Dan Nimick saw his attempt from the spot parried by Viscosi (who remains the only keeper to deny a Nimick penalty in the CPL, now twice).

Three Observations

Hard-working Valour show signs of developing identity in well-deserved draw

The prevailing sentiment in the Valour camp after their season-opening loss at Pacific was that the toothless, sloppy side that lost that game was not an adequate representation of their team’s identity this season.

Saturday’s game in Hamilton? That was closer.

Valour were at least on par with last year’s regular season winners for most of this game, and in the first half especially they were definitely the harder-working side. In the opening 45 minutes Valour made eight tackles to Forge’s three, intercepted the ball seven times, and produced 1.36 expected goals, limiting Forge to 0.65. When the Winnipeg side took a 1-0 lead into halftime, they were absolutely the side more deserving to be ahead.

Daryl Fordyce, who manned the touchline for this game with head coach Phil Dos Santos still suspended, pointed out on Saturday that Valour has always been a club that values being hard to play against, and they absolutely were in this match.

The visitors were decisive and aggressive with the ball at Hamilton Stadium, pushing it forward quickly every time they won it and attempting to end every attacking move with a ball into the box.

Although Forge often pressed Valour high, the Winnipeggers found ways to break the press. Fullbacks Zachary Fernandez and Themi Antonoglou had license to roam, occasionally tucking inside or pushing high up the pitch to stretch Forge wide and open lanes through the middle.

There’s a hunger in this Valour side, and a decisiveness that will serve them well this season. Kris Twardek was eager to create a chance every time the ball came to him — even if he had to get on his bike to do so, as he did for his assist. Diogo Ressurreição is a threat to play a through ball or shoot from pretty much anywhere on the pitch. Meanwhile, newcomer Bruno Figureido looked very promising in his first start for Valour.

A point may have been saved by Jonathan Viscosi’s penalty save on Nimick, but anything less than a draw would’ve been cruel for Valour.

‘Bang-average’ Forge claw back a point with second-half improvement

Bobby Smyrniotis was, probably rightly, disappointed in his team’s performance on Saturday, and he put it down to a simple disparity in effort between Forge and Valour.

The home side were ultimately outworked on home turf in this game, especially in the first half, and they were sluggish going forward which allowed Valour to reassemble their defensive shape on most of the occasions where Forge did break forward.

Of course, had they scored the late penalty, Forge would have gotten away with a mediocre day at the office and taken all three points. In fact, they’ve been tested by Valour a few times at home the past couple of years, and still managed to win somehow. This time though, it wasn’t Forge’s day.

The Hammers were sloppy at times, and although they had a few excellent chances from set-pieces, the ball didn’t find the net as easily as it did a week ago.

Smyrniotis said after this game that he thought his team had been “bang-average,” which is a serious criticism of a side that is usually so far above average when it comes to the Canadian Premier League. In fact, Brian Wright used the exact same wording to describe the effort — because that’s exactly what Smyrniotis had told his dressing room.

“Effort wise, we were bang-average, as I told the guys,” Smyrniotis told the media. “You can’t do that, that’s not who we are.”

Truly though, this was an uncomfortable game for Forge, who saw the tempo of the match getting away from them in the first half. They managed to re-establish some control, and by the late second half they did seem the more likely team to score a winner — particularly in the last 10 minutes, the penalty notwithstanding.

But that late surge was too little, too late; Forge will need to come out stronger, and earlier, to maintain the high standard they’ve set for performances at Hamilton Stadium.

Brian Wright finally in the goals for Forge, relieving early pressure

Finishes don’t come much easier than that, but Brian Wright’s goal in this game could be a monumental one for Forge’s 2025 campaign. Perhaps the most important thing to come out of this match for the home side is that their new number nine, who arrived from derby rivals York United in the winter, has opened his account for the club.

This was Wright’s fifth game in Forge colours, after the first two of the CPL campaign plus the two Concacaf Champions Cup matches against CF Monterrey back in February. In each match, he has found himself in dangerous positions in the box, but he had yet to put the ball into the net — in conspicuous fashion, considering his miss in Leg 1 against Monterrey, and a couple others in successive matches.

Over Wright’s CPL career, his form has taken various turns upward and downward; last year at York United, his nine goals and six assists landed him the Players’ Player of the Year award. A year before, he scored just twice in 26 games. Wright has 24 career CPL goals, which puts him among the league’s all-time leaders, but he’s mostly effective when in a patch of confidence.

After a tough start to life at Forge, Wright might’ve been in danger of losing that confidence, but fortune came to him on Saturday and allowed him to fire in his first of the year. That marker should lift a weight off his shoulders and allow him to play a little more comfortably, now that it’s off his mind.

Of course, Smyrniotis and his staff had not been unhappy with Wright, even before he’d scored. Having a striker of his profile is a major boon to Forge, who suffered in last year’s playoffs for not having a proper focal point at the tip of their attack. Wright’s physicality, runs in the box, and hold-up play make Forge much more dangerous, even if he’s not the one scoring; the simple fact that Wright can push a defensive line backward, or receive to feet and lay it off to a winger, will create more goals for the likes of Mo Babouli, or even Tristan Borges and Kyle Bekker coming from midfield.

All strikers love to score goals, though, and the opportunity to score a lot of them with such good service will be part of what attracted Wright to Forge in the first place. Now that he’s got one, expect more to follow in the coming weeks.

What They Said

“[At halftime] I put two numbers on the board: one was 60, one was 100. The hundred was the workrate of Valour, and 60 was ours. And I was being generous, just because we still had 45 minutes to go; I didn’t want to tell the guys it was 30. But if you stay in those numbers in the second half, then the result will be what the result is, simple. Along with that, tactically, we had to be better.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis

“Last game at Pacific, it wasn’t us. That wasn’t what our team’s made of; the energy levels, top to bottom, everything we showed that day, it wasn’t us. It kind of sucked that we had that week off, I think everyone wanted to come out and show what we can do. I think this is just a building block for the next game, we’re just excited to go home and play our first home game.” — Valour FC forward Shaan Hundal

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Zachary Fernandez, Valour FC

Making his debut for the club, the former Halifax right-back was excellent for Valour, adding a spark of energy and battling well against Forge’s left side. Fernandez won all four of his attempted tackled and made five interceptions, winning six of seven duels and leading his team with 64 touches and 10 successful passes in the final third.

What’s next?

Valour now return home to play their home opener, which kicks off at Princess Auto Stadium next Friday, April 25 against Halifax Wanderers FC (7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET). Forge, meanwhile, have a short trip to northern Toronto to play York United on Sunday, April 27 (2 p.m. ET).

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