York9 FC falls to Hamilton in CPL home opener

By Jake Courtepatte

The newly-stated fans of York9 FC will have to wait a little longer for their team's first Canadian Premier League win.

The York Region squad hosted a touch over 4,000 spectators on Saturday at York Lions Stadium for their first CPL match at their home club, falling 2 – 0 to Hamilton's Forge FC after a lengthy weather delay.

“It's our home opener, but it's funny that it's coming so many weeks down from the beginning of the season,” said head coach Jim Brennan. “We found it difficult as well, being on the road – Forge, we had their home opener, then Cavalry, we had their home opener, and it's been difficult for us. But we grinded through it, had a couple draws on the road, which is fine

A massive 22 shots combined by the two squads failed to find the back of the net in the opening half, before Hamilton buried twice in the second half to take back-to-back wins over the York side.

“We felt, just before that delay, we had them on the ropes, had plenty of chances, lots of opportunities, we felt it was coming,” said Brennan following the match. “That delay took the wind out of our sails. The second half, our momentum kept on taking us forward, had some good possession, plenty of shots today – 20-something shots – just we couldn't find the back of the net.

“They break on the counter and they score on us. That's the way the game goes. So, we're frustrated, the way it came about. We felt we were the better team today.”

After a quick counter attack put the home team down by one at the 70th minute, it was just eight minutes later that Hamilton was able to put the game away for good.

“You keep learning as you go along,” said Brennan. “If we take away the two goals, we look at our performance overall, we think: we're alright, we're on the right track here.”

The club issued a statement on Monday about the weather delay, offering tickets to a future home game and stating “our fans, supporters and partners are of the utmost importance to us and we will continue to strive to offer the best match-day experience at our next home game.”

Yet the most diehard supporters have already received a glimpse of a successful future for the squad: the team's first-ever win actually came last Wednesday in non-CPL competition, where they defeated AS Blainsville out of Quebec 1 – 0 to advance to the next round of the Canadian Championship.

York won't have long to lament Saturday's loss: they head to Halifax Thursday to compete with the Wanderers in CPL action, before returning home for their next home game on June 15 in hosting Vancouver's Pacific FC.