Dens Park ‘showdown’ for ‘Loons’
Forfar Athletic head for Dens Park on Saturday not surprisingly as massive underdogs for their final Premier Sports Cup Group C fixture against Premiership opponents Dundee.
Both sides of course were ‘gifted’ three points when Ross County had to concede defeat to Covid in the early days of the competition, since then Dundee have defeated Brora Rangers 4-0 at Dens, prior to 2-0 win at Montrose last night.
The Athies drew 0-0 at home to Montrose, winning a bonus point in the subsequent penalty shoot-out, before triumphing 1-0 up at Brora last weekend courtesy of a Mark Gallagher strike.
However, missed penalties in both games could prove costly.
Second place in the group is nevertheless confirmed, but either a draw or a win against the odds would be the likely requirement on Saturday if Gary Irvine and his players were to progress to the knock out stage as either group winners or as one of the three best placed runners-up.
Those eleven qualifiers will be joined in Sunday’s second-round draw by the five Premiership clubs who will represent Scotland in European club competitions this season.
Back to Saturday’s ninety minutes which sadly but understandably will be played out with no Forfar fans present and of course Gary will have to make two changes from his starting lineup at Brora.
On loan, Sam Fisher and Luke Strachan cannot play against their parent club and will sit out the tie.
On the plus side for the Station Park management team, Steven Doris returns to the matchday squad.
The sides have already met this season, a second-half virtuoso performance from Charlie Adam setting up a 3-0 win for the Dark Blues in a pre-season friendly at Station Park four weeks back.
There is no doubt that the overall performance and final group placing for the Station Park outfit this time around will be a big improvement on last term and whatever the outcome on Saturday at Dens, all connected with the club will head into the league campaign which commences at Annan on Saturday week in good heart.
