It was Vancouver FC’s first road victory of the season, and their third of the season, a 2-1 win over Hamilton Forge Saturday, May 18, at Tim Hortons Field.
It was also the Eagles first win on that field.
Eagles had first-half goals from Rocco Romeo, in the first three minutes of the game, as well as an Olimpico, a rarely-seen corner kick score, from Vasco Fry.
“Getting a goal so early on, it’s a good confidence boost for us,” Romeo remarked in a post-game interview.”
Finally getting a win at Tim Horton field, “means everything to us,” said Romeo.
“[To] come away with with a positive result, and be back in the winning column, you can’t ask for anything more. So very proud of the boys, very happy for the team, and so now we move forward.”
VFC stumbled slightly after the early goal, with Forge making seven shot attempts in the next 20 minutes — many of them from close range.
Romeo praised his teammates for being “such a resilient group.”
“Even at times where we were on the back today, and it was just constant pressure, pressure, no one really panicked,” Romeo said.
“No one got on to each other and ultimately it was a great performance on the road. Now [we] just have to build on it, you know, we can’t be satisfied with just this one.”
“This venue is a very difficult venue for all of the visiting teams, and to get a result here is massive for the organization, especially because we’re a team that is just really only a year-and-a-half old,” said Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi. “I think these are giant steps in giving the confidence that our players need and the organization needs to keep moving forward and growing and developing as a team.”
“I think sometimes when you get that goal so early it can also backfire, which it did for a while, it just seemed that we scored a goal and then we took our foot off the pedal,” said Ghotbi. “We dropped back too low and gave Forge too much space and possibilities. I think that’s something that we still have to do as a team, I think that when we are ahead and we do score a goal, how we have to play away from home.”
“We haven’t been a good road team, so hopefully this will give us confidence going forward,” he added.
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Romeo got on the score sheet just three minutes in, when Renan Garcia forced an early save out of Forge netminder Chris Kalongo. Fry crossed in the rebound and Moses Dyer headed the ball into the path of Romeo, who tapped it past Kalongo and into the back of the net from close range.
In the 29th minute, Vancouver FC’s Fry curled in a corner shot that went off both posts and into the back of the net to beat Forge’s Kalongo to give the visitors a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the 53rd minute, Forge captain Kyle Bekker scored his first of the season, fed by Alessandro Hojabrpour and Tristan Borges.
Up next, VFC has a home game at Willoughby Stadium in Langley next Saturday, May 25 against Vancouver Island’s Pacific FC. It’s the first match of the B.C. teams.
Play starts at 3 p.m., and tickets are available ahead of time online.
VFC has been undefeated at home so far this season.