Forfar Athletic 2 Broughty Athletic 0

Tuesday 22 September 2020

Pre-season fixture, Station Park

So far, so promising. With a 2-0 victory over East Region Super League (north) side Broughty Athletic, Forfar Athletic made it two wins out of two pre-season friendlies against junior opposition. Second-half goals from Murray Mackintosh and Mark Hill saw manager Stuart Malcolm's side confirm a growing authority on what was eventually a wet and windy Tuesday night at Station Park.

It took a wee while for that superiority to emerge though. Starting with a clearly experimental line-up that included two members of the “trialist” clan, as well as reserve goalkeeper Daniel Hoban, Forfar had to be content with an evenly-fought and ultimately goalless first-half. Both sides were busy enough, but neither managed to put the opposing goalkeeper under too much pressure. 

It took almost an hour for the first clear-cut chance to emerge, BJ Coll’s free-kick from just outside the box clipping the junction between the crossbar and the goalkeeper’s left-hand post. Which turned out to be a sign of imminent things to come, the Loons much sharper up front following the introduction of Bobby Barr and Scott Shepherd. Barely two minutes later a Steven Anderson header was cleared off the Broughty line and with only five more minutes on the clock, Forfar were ahead. Hill’s goal followed not long after and put the eventual result beyond doubt.

 “It was a different game from Saturday (a 5-2 win over Carnoustie Panmure), a tougher test,” said Malcolm. “Our build-up play to the final third was pretty decent. But in the final third we were - especially in the first half - a little bit sloppy. We lacked a wee bit of quality. We scored the goals getting to the bye-line and cutting the ball back into dangerous areas. We know we have the quality to do that, but we need to do it on a regular basis. Still, tonight was also about trying to get everyone game time. And we had a couple of lads in there tonight at the start we wanted to have a look at. They did well enough, but after we made some changes at halftime we looked more threatening.

 “We’re still building towards the first league match of the season, away to Dumbarton on October 17th. But before then the Betfred Cup matches will offer a big challenge against higher opposition. I want us to take into matches what myself and the coaches are working on in training. And with each game, we will hopefully get closer to that.”

To that end, Malcolm, who used all seven substitutes over the course of the 90-minutes, was especially happy with the performance of his back-four and that of 22-year old Hoban.

 “As a centre-half myself I’m always happy with a clean sheet,” he continued. “That is the foundation any team needs to build from. Steven Anderson was magnificent tonight. His decision-making, his organisational skills and leadership qualities were first-class. All in all, I’m delighted, even if there are a couple of little things we still need to work on. Broughty came here and were competitive, They passed the ball well. We had to take the wind out of their sails before we went on to win the game. But they didn’t have too many real chances to score. Maybe only once from a cross we didn’t defend properly. Other than that, we were pretty comfortable. Young Daniel had an excellent game in goal for us. He has a great attitude and he’s been a good signing. His distribution was excellent.”

Fittingly, the final words must go to the Abertay University post and management student. Fresh from two tutorials earlier in what was the first day of a new term, Hoban was all smiles at the end of what was an impressive all-round performance. 

  “Getting minutes under my belt was important for me tonight,” he said. “I had a lot of experience in front of me which helped a lot. And to top it off with a clean sheet was a nice bonus.”  

Forfar Athletic goal scorers: Murry Mackintosh (64); Mark Hill (75)

Forfar Athletic: Hoban; Meechan; Coll; Irvine; Anderson; Trialist; Trialist; Mackintosh; Allan; Thomas; Breadner

Subs: Whyte; Trialist; Hill; Barr; Scally; Shepherd; Fotheringham; McCallum (GK)

Broughty Athletic: Diamond; McNaughton; Warwick; McCord; Anderson; Smith; Duell; Skelly; Kesson; Hay; McKenzie

Subs: McCunnie; Ferguson; Wallis; Roberts; McDonald; Sludden

Referee: Liam Duncan

Assistants: Gordon Crawford & Abbie Hendry