Forge barely even broke a sweat to defeat Pacific, who came down to Hamilton for a game that was rescheduled due to the wildfire smoke in July.

The hosts walked to a 3-0 victory, keeping their visitors without a shot on target and really without any chances as a whole across the 90 minutes of play.

This was the third meeting between these two in 2026, and the third Forge clean sheet victory. In fact, Forge has won the last seven head-to-head meetings, all shutouts. Pacific's last goal, and last win over the Hamiltonians came all the way back in October 2024.

Forge lined up in a standard 4-3-3, with Dino Bontis in goal, Marko Jevremović at left-back, Manjrekar James and Dan Nimick at centre-back, Rezart Rama on the right, a midfield three of Antoine Batisse holding with captain Noah Jensen and Anthony Aromatario in more box-to-box roles, Hoce Massunda and Maxime Bourgeois on the wings, and Lucas Cavallini up top.

Pacific started in a 4-2-3-1, with Eleias Himaras in goal, a back four of Christian Greco Taylor on the left, Diego Konincks and Josh Belluz in the middle, and Sami Keshavarz on the right, captain Lukas Lagerfeldt in the double pivot alongside Taras Gomulka, Aiden Daniels in an attacking midfield role, Ronan Kratt on the left wing with Marco Bustos on the right, and Alejandro Diaz leading the line.

This one started somewhat feisty, with Pacific picking up a handful of fouls in the opening 10 minutes. The stop-start nature of the game prevented Forge from getting into a rhythm, as the chances were few and far between for the opening stages of the game, save for a large number of corners.

But, as the half wore on, the hosts' pressure mounted. Bobby Smyrniotis' side seemed to challenge the visitors' ability on the ball, allowing Pacific to knock the ball around the back a bit, waiting for them to make a mistake on the ball and then moving quickly in transition.

The Vancouver Island side was not strong in possession, giving the ball away countless times whenever they tried to pass through or over the lines. When Forge was on the ball, they repeatedly tried to send Bourgeois through in space, with the right-winger effectively stretching the back line and testing his opposing full-back in Greco-Taylor over and over again.

Most of the home side's open play chances in the first half came through this pattern of play, but they couldn't find any finish inside the 18.

As the first half was coming to a close, a Forge breakthrough finally came in the 43rd minute. As Pacific was playing out of the back, Keshavarz badly underhit a negative pass, which was jumped on by Jensen, who made no mistake from right on the line of the box.

That was just the break the hosts needed at Hamilton Stadium, and put them in cruise control from there. Smyrniotis tried a FVS challenge for a red card on Greco-Taylor after tangling up with Bourgeois in stoppage time, but referee Mario Alayass didn't see enough in it, and did not change his decision of no card.

That drew an end to a first half that ended up looking all orange, with a 14-1 shot advantage and a 1-0 goal advantage.

Terry Dunfield clearly wasn't too thrilled with what he saw from his side, particularly through midfield, as he made two changes at the break. On came Mattias Vales for Daniels and Roshawn Juhmi for Lagerfeldt, which kept the midfield shape pretty similar, but gave them a couple of products who are more valuable on the ball.

These changes didn't do much to bring a spark for the visitors, as they still looked a step slow from kickoff. Forge would again force Pacific into a mistake, as Massunda jumped in front of Belluz in the 18-yard box, and the centre-back was clumsy and took down the winger.

Cavallini made no mistake from the spot, scoring his second goal in two games, and making up for his missed spot kick from the game against Vancouver a couple of weeks back.

That pushed the score to 2-0, and a big hill to climb for Pacific. Dunfield gave it another roll of the dice, bringing in former Forge attacker Matteo Schiavoni for Bustos, who was largely marked out of the game in his 60 minutes of action.

A few minutes after that, there seemed to be a way back for the visitors. In the 69th minute, Belluz put a header in the back of the net after a nice free kick routine, but after review, it was deemed offside in the buildup, and Pacific's only real moment of danger in the entire game was all for naught.

Smyrniotis would make a triple substitution after that, bringing off his entire front line as Ismael Oketokoun, Aghilas Sadek and Nana Ampomah entered in place of Cavallini, Bourgeois and Massunda.

While Forge has had some legitimate troubles defending the lead in recent weeks, this one was much less of a nailbiter for the fans in Hamilton. The hosts knocked the ball around the back for the majority of the rest of the game, with the occasional ball over the top for Oketokoun or Sadek to go chase.

Ben Paton would enter for Jensen in the 83rd minute, and Daniel Krutzen would come in for Batisse in the 90th. 

The Hamiltonians would put a bow on the game in the 93rd minute, with a nice ball over the top by Aromatario after a long possession sequence that played Paton through. He cut in and finished past Himaras on his right boot, and that put the game away for good.

Forge walked away with a much-needed three points, their first victory in league play in almost a month, and now sit two points back of Cavalry in the Shield race with three matches left.