Forfar Athletic 0 vs Partick Thistle 2

SPFL League 1

Saturday 12 December 2020

Station Park, Forfar

This was a match that started badly for Forfar - and didn’t really get much better in the the 83 minutes that followed the enforced substitution of experienced centre-back, Steven Anderson. Only seven minutes into his return from an injury sustained in a pre-season friendly at Arbroath, Anderson was forced to leave the Station Park pitch with what turned out be an achilles problem. In a season already marked by a string of injuries to defenders, this was just one more blow for manager Stuart Malcolm’s side to absorb.

“It’s just unbelievable,” said the Forfar boss. “Steven has worked so hard with Mark Farrell and Lara Jordan to get back. They’ve done so well, given that we first we though he wouldn’t be available until early next month. Now he’s hurt again. I’m not sure of the extent of it yet. But it meant we had to reshuffle. And, to be fair to BeeJay Coll and Ross Meechan, they did a great job in the middle of defence.”

Indeed, Malcolm was quick to pay tribute to his entire squad at the end of a match marked by controversy.

“It was an unbelievable effort from the guys,” he said. “They gave me everything I asked for. We battled. We fought. I’m bitterly disappointed for the players. I can’t fault their effort or their work-rate. Maybe we could be better in the final third. We could make better decisions. But I got everything I asked for in terms of competing.

“I thought we matched Thistle all game. We went toe-to-toe with them. We asked the boys to be really aggressive and they were. But once we don’t get the free-kick in the build-up to the opening goal we still have to defend the cross ball. We lost a runner from midfield into the box - Shea Gordon - one we could have matched. So we can still defend better. But the sucker-punch was not getting the free-kick in the middle of the park.”

In the immediate aftermath of Gordon’s 52nd minute counter, two Forfar players - goalkeeper Marc McCallum and Beejay Coll - as well as Malcolm himself were “awarded” yellow cards. Such was the level of indignation shown by the home side at referee Gavin Ross’ decision to wave play on.

“It was a free-kick in the middle of the park in the build-up to the first goal,” repeated Malcolm, who was shown a red card at full-time after making remarks the referee clearly viewed as insulting. “And the second goal looked off-side, too. The players are devastated. Marc has had to make a few comfortable saves. But nothing we wouldn’t expect him to make. In that respect, we were never under the cosh, or looking like they were going to tear us open. I’m not blaming the referee for the loss. But some of the decisions didn’t help.”

Still, no matter how legitimate Malcolm’s protests were, the result in the record book is unlikely to be changed. So better to look forward than back. And in that respect Malcolm remains optimistic.

“We are so close to being a team that will pick up points,” he insisted. “We do everything well, apart from that last wee bit - the cutting edge. The points we have right now - as opposed to what we should have - does not reflect our performances.

“We have to get off the bottom of the table. And we will. There’s no question that once we get a run of games that will happen. We wanted to go into last week at Clyde off the back of winning at Peterhead. But any momentum was broken. It felt a wee bit like we were starting from scratch again this week. Which is not to say the guys are not giving us everything. They are running their hearts out for this club. In that respect I cannot fault them. But we need to pick up more points.”

That starts next Saturday with an away fixture at East Fife. Stay tuned. And keep the faith.