Forfar Athletic 2 Elgin City 1

SPFL cinch League 2

Saturday 6 November 2021

Station Park, Forfar

Forfar overcame swirling wind and battling opposition to claim a win over a tricky Elgin City side. The three points sees Gary Irvine’s men move up into second place in cinch League 2 as the early season draw woes look to be a thing of the past.

The gales dominated the opening stages as both sides struggled to string passes together but it was a moment of quality that brought the game to life. Craig Slater stood over a free-kick from all of 40 yards and unleashed a canon that looked destined for the top corner until Elgin stopper Thomas McHale climbed to push the ball behind for a corner. It was from that corner, taken by Luke Strachan, that the Loons took the lead, Andy Munro rose highest to nod the ball into the net from close range. 

The scores were levelled just six minutes later, Elgin taking advantage of some slack passing in defence and firing a shot that deflected underneath Marc McCallum.

The second half followed a similar trend to the first half but the breakthrough would come for the Loons when P.J Crossan was forced off with stomach issues. His replacement Grant Anderson would find the back of the net with his first touch just 14 minutes later but what came in between was brilliant from Stefan McCluskey. He plucked a ball out of the sky and skipped past his man before delivering a perfect ball for Anderson to stoop low and head into the net for his third of the season. 

It was then up to Forfar to defend resolutely for the remaining half an hour and that they did with a solid display, frustrating the visitors front line time and time again.

Gary Irvine said after the game: “It was a tough game, we had to work really hard for the win today. We knew Elgin would make it a battle and be hard to beat. They came here off the back of a horrendous result for them in the (Scottish) cup so we knew they would be up for it. It wasn't particularly pretty for us today but that’s a credit to Elgin's hard work and I’m delighted we managed to grind out the three points.”

“It's always great to see a substitute make an immediate impact, it's a great buzz for me especially when it's such a great goal. It was the breakthrough we needed and a real bit of magic that won us the game. After that, we saw the game out excellently and that’s something we’ve really improved on.”

“Next week will be very tough, Kelty are a really good side but so are we. We’ll prepare and we will go in with confidence because we have a real opportunity to put pressure on them at the top.” remarked a satisfied manager.

As mentioned, the Loons win sets up a tantalising top of the table clash, as we head to New Central Park for the first time in league competition to meet Kelty Hearts in a week's time.

Forfar Athletic 

1 McCallum

2 Meechan (c)

4 S Anderson

19 Munro ⚽️ 26'

3 Strachan

17 McCluskey

8 Ness ? Gallagher 22'

10 Slater

24 Crossan ? G Anderson 57' ⚽️ 58'

9 Aitken ? Thomas 77'

18 Shepherd

Substitutes

5 Travis

11 G Anderson

12 Doris

14 Thomas

15 Hussain

16 Gallagher

20 Harkins

21 Sanderson (GK)

25 Fisher

Elgin City 

1 McHale

3 Spark ? 60'

2 Grivosti ? 42'

4 Draper 78'

5 Cooper ? Machado 83'

11 MacPhee

7 R Dingwall

6 MacEwan ⚽️ 32'

8 Cameron

10 Sopel ? Dingwall 64'

9 Wilson ? Peters 83'

Substitutes

12 Peters

14 Cooney

15 O'Keefe

16 Allen

17 T Dingwall

18 Mailer

19 Machado

20 Hester

21 Hoban

Referee: Peter Stuart

Attendance: 469