As the Canadian Premier League (CPL) regular season enters its final few matches, Saturday was an afternoon when the Shield race heated up and gave the league’s top two teams plenty of chances to bolster their quests.
On the one hand, there was Cavalry FC. The current table toppers, who came into their match with Inter Toronto FC on the back of a defeat against Atletico Ottawa Wednesday.
A win would have seen the Cavs move to 56 points – nine points ahead of their second-placed rivals Forge FC, who were supposed to host Halifax later in the day.
However, a win for Forge against Halifax would have seen the Hammers close that gap to just three points, if the Cavs lost and continued their rare losing streak this season.
Instead, in the end, neither team could really seize the opportunity.
While Cavalry suffered a disastrous 3-1 defeat at York Lions Stadium, Forge dramatically surrendered a two-goal lead twice before settling for a 3-3 draw at Hamilton Stadium.
Inter Toronto punish Cavalry’s slow start
It was a calamitous start for Cavalry as they saw Toronto score twice in the first 15 minutes.
Sebastian Gonzales opened the scoring at the six-minute mark when he collected Ariel Almagro’s pass near the top of the box to curl a superb finish into the top-right corner.
A few minutes later, Inter doubled their advantage through Steffen Yeates, who ran riot against a Cavalry defense that was in complete shambles for large portions of the match.
“We beat ourselves today,” Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said in the post-match press conference. “That’s pretty obvious, because we’re fighting for everything near the end, but you give any team in this league two goals, it’s a tough ask to come back.”
The Cavs responded by pushing forward, producing corners and several dangerous free kicks. However, Toronto kept the visitors at bay and increasingly attacked on the counter.
The home side were rewarded for that resilience in the 69th minute when Yeates completed his brace after a scramble in the Cavalry box that saw Nate Ingham make a couple of saves.
Eryk Kobza did manage to pull one back late for the Cavs in the 83rd minute, but it was little too late for the visitors to make any impact by then.
“We did our best, we tried, we took risks knowing that one goal could swing it,” Wheeldon Jr. said. “These are great lessons. The table doesn’t change, nor does the mission. We know what we need to do in the next three games.”
Forge let Halifax escape with dramatic comeback
As Cavalry lost, the stage was all set for the Hammers to take the win in Hamilton and reduce that gap to three. A victory would also have guaranteed them a top two finish, which would mean having home field advantage for the playoffs qualifying semifinal.
And for a huge portion of the match, it seemed that Forge was well set to achieve that.
They took control early on after Lucas Cavallini scored just four minutes into his home debut. The Hammers eventually doubled their advantage when former Wanderer Daniel Nimick headed in Noah Jensen’s free kick in the 78th minute.
Halifax’s Nelson Pierre managed to get one back for the visitors in the 81st minute. However, Ismael Oketokoun restored Forge’s two-goal cushion in the 90th minute.
As the match entered stoppage time, Forge looked good to hold on to the win. But the Wanderers refused to fold and had other plans.
Liam Mackenzie first made it 3-2 in the fourth minute of stoppage time before Tavio Ciccarelli stunned the home fans in the 103rd minute to complete a miraculous comeback.
“We were the better team but here’s the thing, we were the better team the last three weeks and we got three points, so sometimes you don’t need to be the better team maybe,” a disappointed Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said after the match.
The draw was Forge’s fourth in five league matches and it leaves them three points behind Cavalry with a crucial game in hand as they chase that elusive Shield.
For now, Cavalry remains in control of the Shield race. But Forge has a chance to make up for lost ground. With every point now carrying greater weight and only a handful of matches remaining in the regular season, the margin for errors is rapidly disappearing.
“I think today was a big wake up call,” Nimick said. “We’ve probably had a few wake up calls in the past few weeks. But we have great leaders in the locker room and now it’s up to the rest of the guys to really lift our game, learn from this, learn from the past few weeks and come out stronger to end the season.”
