Forfar Athletic 1 East Fife 2

SPFL League One

Saturday 10 April 2021

Station Park, Forfar

Not surprisingly, there was a mix of emotions on the face of newly-appointed interim player-coach Gary Irvine in the wake of a disappointing 2-1 reverse at the hands of East Fife. In the immediate wake of ex-manager Stuart Malcolm's sudden resignation, the previous 48-hours had been something of a whirlwind for the 36-year old midfielder.

“I’m not going to lie,” said Irvine at the end of a game that leaves the Loons still searching for a first home league win of the season. “What happened on Thursday evening was a shock to the Club and the players. So it’s been a quick turn-round, a brief time that asked us all to adapt pretty quickly, especially myself. And today was a sore one for the lads. I felt like they gave absolutely everything out there - which has been the case all season.”

Indeed, it is hard to fault the Forfar squad in terms of the effort all concerned put in during a game that started and ended in sunshine but featured a snowstorm in-between. While two goals were conceded, Irvine was justified in emphasising the positives he saw in a brave performance. A series of good saves by goalkeeper Marc McCallum kept the home side in the game. And top-scorer Jordan Allan popped up yet again with a typically opportunistic counter.

There were three big turning points. Referee Duncan Williams turned down what looked like strong claims for a first-half penalty with the score at 1-0 to the visitors. Allan hit the post not long after scoring the equaliser. And BeeJay Coll was rather harshly sent off after 77-minutes when a rather innocuous foul led to a second booking for the left-back.

“When we had the ball we got into a lot of good, wide areas and created chances,” said Irvine, who was an unused substitute in his “managerial” debut. “Jordan Allan took his goal well and had another effort hit the post. So that’s all good and those are the things we will talk most about, even if there were things we can do better. The effort and commitment was excellent. We created chances. We dealt with East Fife’s pressure pretty well, even if we did ride our luck a wee bit at times.

“The bottom line is that we have to start taking the chances we are creating. That’s the position we’re in. A wee bit of luck would also help. If Jordan’s shot goes in instead of hitting the post, we get momentum and confidence and the result is maybe different.”

Looking ahead, Irvine was right to emphasise the need to “freshen up” the side with games coming so thick and fast. This was Forfar’s fourth game in seven days, with two more to come in the next six.

“With the fixtures coming along so quickly, we are having to think about energy levels and how many minutes everyone is playing,” he said. “We are having to use the squad as best we can in the circumstances. That was why we freshened the side up a bit today. But we have a good dressing room full of experience and good lads. We’re all in this together. They understand the need to work with all of the squad. And, as I said, we saw that out there today in terms of the effort we got, not just from the starting eleven but from the subs as well.

“As for the next game at Airdrie, we have to remain positive and believe we can get something from it. It’s yet another quick turnaround though. This means we’ll be looking at energy levels before picking the side for Tuesday. It may be that we have to freshen things up again. But the boys are aware of that. I’m actually looking forward to playing Airdrieonians. We need to turn things around and a game coming along so quickly could help us do that.”

There is also a Scottish Cup tie against Dundee United looming large. But Irvine was having none of that. Not yet.

“Next Friday against United in the cup will be a break from the league, but right now I’m fully focused on Airdrieonians,” he insisted. “That’s our priority. We’ll prepare in the right way and go there with some confidence after today. A good win there would be a good way to go into the United match.”