Elgin City 1 Forfar Athletic 0

SPFL cinch League 2
Sunday 2 January 2022
Borough Briggs, Elgin

In football, every defeat is painful. But some definitely hurt more than others. And this one to Elgin City, a 1-0 loss through a Darren McHardy goal scored three minutes into injury-time, will surely linger with a Forfar side that managed only one-shot on target at the Borough Briggs stadium.

  Not surprisingly, not many smiles were in evidence as the players made their way from the makeshift changing room to the team bus at the end of what was a towsy match. Eight men were booked by referee Dan McFarlane, five of those members of a Forfar side that conceded 19 fouls, ten more than they were awarded.

  “I’m still trying to formulate my thoughts, to be honest,” said a clearly disappointed Forfar manager, Gary Irvine. “I’m still a bit numb. Actually, I have to give Elgin some credit. They’ve fielded a team that boasted just about every defensive option they could possibly get into their starting line-up. Their aim was to frustrate us. And they did that in the first half. I don’t think we asked enough questions of them, or put them under enough pressure.”

  Indeed, Forfar’s best spell of play came immediately after half-time, a flurry of chances coming their way in the first few minutes of the second half. The best of those fell to Gary Harkins, who shot into the side-netting after a brave run into the penalty area.  

  “Gary did brilliantly to break up the play and get through on goal,” said Irvine. “And there is no one more honest. He admitted afterwards that he really needed to score. Then we had another couple of chances in which Stefan McCluskey could have done better. With the second of those he maybe should have lifted the ball over the keeper rather than taking a touch. And the first one he could have met P.J. Crossan’s cross with his head.”

  Thereafter, the game returned to the same sort of dour pattern that had dominated the first 45 minutes. Right until the end at least. 

  “Elgin obviously had a game-plan that involved frustrating us and relying on set-plays,” reiterated Irvine. “And we played into their hands at the end by giving away a silly free-kick which led to the corner and the goal. Set plays are so important in football. I’ve been preaching that since early in the season when we were falling victim to a number of late goals from set-plays. So I’m annoyed just now. I’m angry. I want to go into training on Tuesday and work hard on correcting what I saw today. We don’t want to go down that slippery slope again and concede any more goals from set-plays.

  “The biggest regret is that we knew McHardy was a real threat at corners and free-kicks. He has scored a few goals for them this season. And he did it again against us. We dealt well enough with the initial ball. but it fell kindly for them and was bundled in. While it is important to get ahead on the first part of a set-play, the job isn’t done until the ball is in the opposition half.”

  There was one bright spot for the Loons amidst what was their fourth league defeat of the season and the second in succession after the 4-3 loss to Stenhousemuir on Boxing Day. After 15 months out through injury, defender Darren Whyte played the last quarter of the match.  

  “Steven Anderson got himself booked early on,” continued Irvine. “Then he had another tackle in the middle of the park which came close to the referee going him another warning. So he was on a bit of a tightrope at that point. But it gave us the opportunity to bring Darren on. He did brilliantly on a grass pitch and in the later stages of the game. He showed a few wee flashes of good defending. There was a good cross into our box and it was him who got his head on it. All credit to him after 15 months out. It would have been the ideal return for him if only we had put those chances away when they came along. But we have fallen victim to a late goal. It’s a real downer for everybody. But we need to learn from that, pick ourselves up and work hard in training. We’re at home next weekend and we need to get back to winning ways.”

Elgin City 

1 McHale
5 Grivosti
22 Draper
4 McHardy ⚽️ 90'+3
3 Spark ? Towler 45'
2 Cooper ? 70'
6 MacEwan ? Dingwall  74' ? 83'
10 Mailer ? 18'
11 Machado
8 Peters ? Dingwall 74'
9 Hester 

Substitutes

7 R Dingwall
12 Sopel
14 Towler
15 O'Keefe
16 T Dingwall
17 Trialist 
18 Lawrence
21 Dunn

Forfar Athletic 

1 McCallum
2 Meechan
19 Munro ? 68'
4 S Anderson ? 2' ? Whyte 67'
3 Strachan
10 Slater
20 Harkins ? 85'
17 McCluskey
22 Moore ? Gallagher 74'
24 Crossan ? 37' ? G Anderson 81' ? 87'
18 Shepherd ? Doris74' 

Substitutes

6 Whyte
11G Anderson
12 Doris
16 Gallagher
21 Sanderson
23 Irvine
25 Fisher

Referee: Dan McFarlane

Attendance: 499