St. Mirren v Forfar Athletic – Match Information & Preview

Viaplay Cup – Group H
Venue – SMiSA Stadium, Paisley
Saturday 29th July – Kick-off 3p.m.

Admission – Adults £15
Concessions (over 65, under 18’s & full time students) £10
Under 12’s £5

Please note there is no pay at the turnstile facility by either cash or credit card available on match day.

Tickets must be purchased in advance for the NORTH STAND which is for the exclusive use of FAFAC SUPPORTERS.

Utilise away support link on St. Mirren website to purchase;- https://www.stmirren.com/awaysupporers

PREVIEW
The ‘Loons’ pay their first ever visit to the SMiSA Stadium in Paisley on Saturday to meet St. Mirren in the Viaplay Cup, in fact it will be the first clash between the sides since July of 2005 when the ‘Buddies’ triumphed 1-0 at Station Park in a Challenge Cup tie.

When the draw was made for the groups in this season’s League Cup competition to give it the traditional title, no one could have anticipated what was in store for both clubs on the final day of that part of the tournament.

The equation is a simple one for both clubs.

St. Mirren need to win to qualify for the knock-out stage.

Forfar Athletic require a minimum of a draw at the end of the ninety minutes to make the last sixteen stage, no easy task however.

The ‘Loons’ if they lose to their Premiership opponents will finish second in the group, but only the three best placed runners-up go through to the next stage, which could well end up a complicated scenario.

Whatever the outcome and all of a ‘Loons’ persuasion travel in hope, the Forfar Athletic players can be proud of their performances and achievements to date.

Ray McKinnon’s new look squad, seeded fourth in Group H have already beaten the second and third seeds Arbroath and Montrose in fairly comprehensive fashion, the atmosphere at times at Station Park on Tuesday past ‘electric.’

Looking ahead to Saturday’s make or break fixture, Ray acknowledges it will be a tough challenge for the squad.
Despite struggling to gain that vital winner at Cowdenbeath on Tuesday evening, Toyosi Olusanya the scorer of the 94th minute counter that clinched three points, the ‘Buddies’ looked a pretty strong outfit in their 4-0 demolition of Arbroath on home soil last weekend, a match Ray has now watched back on a couple of occasions.

It will be a tough task for an Athies squad which will be similar in numbers and content to previous Viaplay encounters.

All the players are aware of the task ahead, but rightly travel full of confidence with all facets of the team playing their part on Tuesday in what was a huge all round team performance.

A few of the pundits reckoned Calum Moore however was the man of the match, ‘Smokey’ showing tremendous energy bursting out of defence and midfield especially in the latter stages of the contest.

The home side managed by Stephen Robinson finished a highly creditable sixth in last season’s Premiership being just pipped for the fifth European qualification spot.

They have brought in a handful of new faces over the summer, four of them participating in recent games, Stav Nahmani on loan from Macabi Tel Aviv scoring a brace against the ‘Lichties, Mikael Mandron signed from Motherwell also getting on the score sheet in that tie.

It is believed Saints are hoping for a crowd in excess of 3,000 on the day and hopefully the travelling band of ‘Loons’ supporters will play ether part in creating a cracking atmosphere.

Premiership official Matthew MacDermid is the man in the middle.

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
This will be the sixth tie since the eighties between the clubs in the League Cup competition under it’s various guises and formats and below we take a very brief look back at some quite frankly astonishing score lines in these games.

16th September, 1981 – Forfar Athletic 1 St. Mirren 1 – A hard fought draw at Station Park in the first leg of a last eight confrontation.
23rd September, 1981 – St. Mirren 6 Forfar Athletic 0 – The Athies are well defeated the second leg of the quarter final tie in Paisley.

24the August, 1983 – St. Mirren 1 Forfar Athletic 0 – Saints win a second round first leg tie by the only goal of the game at Love Street.
27th August 1983 – Forfar Athletic 2 St. Mirren 2 – Three days later at Station Park, despite a brave fight the ‘Loons’ exit the competition by an aggregate score of 3-2.

27th August, 1986 – Forfar Athletic 5 St. Mirren 1 – Exactly three years later an amazing outcome in a one off knock out tie. The home side hit five past Campbell Money, the visiting line-up included current Scotland manager Steve Clarke, Paul Lambert, Kenny McDowall and Frank McGarvey, not forgetting Neil Cooper some years on a very successful Athies boss. The ‘Loons’ scorers that eventful evening John Clark, Raymond Lorimer, Gordon Scott, Craig Brewster and Steve Lennox.

10th August, 2004 – St. Mirren 2 Forfar Athletic 5 – In a match played throughout in torrential summer rain, Forfar again netted a nap had with Paul Tosh the tormentor in chief on the night. The big striker hit a double as well as causing havoc in the home ranks, the other visiting marksmen Barry Sellars and David McClune, the fifth counter an own goal