Forfar Athletic 2 Stirling Albion 0

Saturday 11 December 2021
Station Park 
SPFL cinch League 2

This was the sort of game newspapers tend to refer to as a “hard fought encounter.” And no, it will not go down at Forfar Athletic’s prettiest victory of the season. But yes, this was exactly the sort of result teams with promotional aspirations must grind out from matches such as this. In the end, it was 2-0, Stefan McCluskey’s injury-time strike settling things after man-of-the-match Craig Slater had put the Loons ahead three-minutes into the second-half. 

Between those two goals, however, Stirling made a real game of it in their first match since the controversial departure of manager, Kevin Rutkiewicz in mid-week. They even had the ball in Marc McCallum’s net, only to have the “goal” chalked off by referee Duncan Williams amidst much protesting by the visitors. 

“I enjoyed the game,” was Forfar boss Gary Irvine’s initial verdict. “I knew it was going to be a tough match. The opposition came here under unusual circumstances, having just lost their manager. As I knew they would, Stirling came here fired up. They reacted well to the loss of their boss, especially on the back of some poor results. But we prepared for that, even if it did put a question mark on how things were likely to go. We concentrated well on our own game though. I’m pleased with how our boys took all the pre-match messages into the game. We worked really hard.

“I asked that of my players though,” continued Irvine. “I wanted them to come out fast and control the game. Which is what they did. There wasn’t much in it first-half. Both teams pretty much cancelled each other out. If anything, we just edged it in terms of possession and chances. Second-half, I was pleased with the goals. It was nice to see Craig Slater get one. He put in a great shift for the team, as he has been doing lately. He has controlled a few matches lately, so adding a goal was brilliant.”

Indeed, while Slater’s overall contribution to Forfar’s ninth victory of the league two season was noteworthy, it was his goal that pleased his manager most.

“The second goal I was especially delighted with,” acknowledged Irvine. “Yes, we got a wee bit of luck when they had a goal chocked off. But I had a sub in Scott Shepherd who is probably a bit disappointed that he hasn’t started the last couple of games. He came on and put in a performance for 20 minutes that helped get us up the park. He used his body well and put the ball on a plate for Stefan to score. I was delighted with that.”

Not so clever was the sight of two Forfar players - Jamie Ness and Sam Fisher - pulling up with injuries. Both had to be substituted.  

“My only disappointment today was the disruption caused by the injuries” sad Irvine. “My fingers are crossed that they are not too bad. Jamie has tweaked his knee, so we’ll see how he is. To see Sam go down after making a good sliding tackle was more worrying. His studs got caught underneath him on the surface. I’m gutted for him. He did well after stepping in at left-back. He put in a solid display. His opponent changed a couple of times but he dealt with that. So I’m disappointed for him.”

Ever the perfectionist, Irvine didn’t allow the final result to blind him to what could have been done better en route to the three points. 

“I am going to be a little critical,” he said. “I would have liked the win to have been a bit more comfortable than it eventually was. After we scored we retreated a wee touch. I wanted them to be braver, stick together and keep the game tight in the midfield. Our front two - Stefan and Matty - put in a great shift though. That should have given the midfield a bit of courage to squeeze up behind them. That would have gained us territory, allowed us to nick a bit of possession and create more chances. I just felt like we were sitting back a touch and inviting pressure.”

On the longer-term injury front, Irvine had mostly good news to report.

“Craig Thomson is into his rehab,” he said. “We had his ankle x-rayed, then scanned on Friday. We’re hopeful he won’t be out too long. Luke Strachan’s absence was down to illness. He was struggling the other day. So he wasn’t fit to be involved today. Darren Whyte I’m really pleased with. He’s been training well - full-training. He actually caught us by surprise with how good he looked on Monday. So that got us a wee bit excited. He’s been out for a long time, but he’s not far away now.”

Next up for the Loons is a trip to Edinburgh City on Friday evening, what will be a wee change to the usual schedule. 

“We’ll prepare as we always do and hopefully build on what we achieved today,” concluded Irvine. “My message to the players is always the same. It’s all about working hard and creating a winning mentality. We did that today and will look to do so again in Edinburgh.”  

Forfar Athletic 
1 McCallum
2 Meechan
4 S Anderson
19 Munro
25 Fisher ? Hussain 61' ?  69'
11 G Anderson ? 84'
8 Ness ? 22' ? Thomas 28'
10 Slater ⚽️ 48'
24 Crossan
17 McCluskey ⚽️ 90+3'
9 Aitken ? Shepherd 85'

Substitutes
12 Doris
14 Thomas
15 Hussain
16 Gallagher
18 Shepherd
20 Harkins
21 Sanderson (GK)
23 Irvine

Stirling Albion
1 Currie
2 Banner
5 McGregor
4 Cummins ? 74'
3 Watson
7 Scally ?Bikey 70'
6 Laird ? 24' ? Roberts 45+1'
8 Grant
9 Carrick
10 Leitch ?Flanagan 65' 
23 Mackin

Substitutes
11 Flanagan
12 Heaver
14 Moore
15 Bikey
16 Roberts
17 Law
19 Creaney

Referee: Duncan Williams