Forge FC notched their first win against Vancouver FC on Friday night at Tim Hortons Field, taking a 2-0 result in front of a boisterous home crowd.

The visitors proved a stingy opponent for Hamilton, who had plenty of possession in the first half but struggled to break down Vancouver’s defence. At last, though, the moment — or more accurately, moments — arrived midway through the second half, as a pair of substitutes, in Aboubacar Sissoko and Woobens Pacius, scored within two minutes of each other just after the 70 minute mark.

Vancouver head coach Afshin Ghotbi took a positive view.

“This is the third match against Forge and I think this is our best performance in all three matches,” Ghotbi said. “In the first half we were defensively very organized and very compact and didn’t give much away. We had one fantastic chance we could’ve maybe scored. In the second half we started a little bit not as good as I wanted, but we came into the second half and had some wonderful chances to score. So the turning point is really that one minute where we took two goals.

“I’m proud of the performance, I’m proud of our players. I think we are growing to become a very exciting team, a team that can attack, that can create chances, that can control the game, control the tempo and create chances to score goals. Again, Forge has that quality that if you just for one second lose concentration, they can punish you.”

Vancouver FC lost 2-0 to Forge on Friday, July 28, with both winning goals happening within 2 minutes of each other. (Vancouver Football Club/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Prior to the game, Vancouver Ghotbi had special praise for one Forge player in particular.

“Kyle Bekker for me is the best player in the league,” Ghotbi had said. “He’s also another level as a footballer and also the most complete player we have in the league.”

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Friday night, perhaps to Ghotbi and Vancouver’s chagrin, Bekker proved him right. This was a vintage performance from the Forge captain, possibly one of the finest of his five years at the club.

On the stat sheet, Bekker’s 80 minutes of work produced three shots, four chances created, 30 passes in the final third, and an assist on Woobens Pacius’ goal.

Vancouver returns home next Sunday, August 6 to host Valour FC in Langley at 2 p.m.