Cavalry take down rival Forge in battle for first place

It was another epic battle between the Canadian Premier League’s two longtime powerhouses.

Yes … Saturday’s square-off of Cavalry FC and visiting Forge FC at ATCO Field had it all …

It was a contest matching the top teams on the 2026 season, fighting for first place.

There was spirit underscoring an ugly sword-fight of arch-rivals, with cards aplenty — including a couple of reds for the black hats from Hamilton — marring the meeting.

And it was another back-and-forth tight-fisted affair that went down to the wire — this one won by host Cavalry in 2-1 triumphant fashion.

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“Yeah … it was another boring game between the two sides,” said Cavalry gaffer Tommy Wheeldon Jr., tongue in cheek post-match. “We needed to win. I said it before the game, ‘We had to win to flip the tables.’ And that’s what we did. And it was a really interesting way in which we did it.” It certainly was.

Cavalry fell behind on a rare miscue by one of its stars despite controlling early action.

And it rebounded against a 10-man Forge squad, which became short-handed when a FVS challenge by Cavalry clearly showed Forge’s Rezart Rama grabbing home-side hero Daan Klomp’s throat.

“This is our house, and I think we have certain behaviors in our house, and they don’t like coming here,” said Wheeldon of Forge. “We don’t want to make them feel welcome at all. They know it. I mean … they don’t get a lot of wins here. So the pressure is on. They’re leading on the table. They’ve taken the table for the most part of the season.”

“But we’re also not lifting trophies now,” continued Wheeldon. “We’d be naive enough to think that they won’t come back with vengeance next time we face them. But what we’ve done is reminded them who we are and remind the league who we are.”

Cavalry, with an 11W-4D-2L record, now leads by two points on 11-2-3 Forge.

And the Calgary crew will try to expand that gap with a win over visiting Atletico Ottawa (16-7-6) next Saturday at ATCO Field (2:30 p.m., TSN2/OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca).