Dundee 5 Forfar Athletic 2
Premier Sports Cup
Saturday 24 July 2021
The Loons bowed of the Premier Sports League Cup on goal difference after a difficult first half at Dens Park saw them three-nil down.
Forfar headed to their Premiership neighbours feeling they would need to take at least something from the game to progress, despite having secured at least a second-place finish in midweek but the plan to keep Dundee at bay unravelled in the 12th minute when the home side picked up the ball after it had bounced around the midfield and drove down the right. The ball bounced off of Mullen and Munro before presenting itself for Charlie Adam to tap home into the empty net at the back post.
The Dees doubled their advantage twenty minutes later. Jason Cummings had far too much space to bring the ball down in the six-yard box from a corner before laying off to Corey Panter whose shot took a massive deflection before bouncing past McCallum.
Things were to get worse for the Athies before the half was over, first Michael Travis worryingly pulled up holding his hamstring in some pain and was replaced by manager Gary Irvine. And then Dundee added a third when Christie Elliot tapped in Declan McDaid’s cross at the back post.
The Loons looked a different side in the second half and began to ramp up the pressure when it became clear qualification was still possible, eventually getting their goal in the 62nd minute. Craig Thomson did excellently on the right, skinning his man before racing to the byline and delivering a perfect cross for Stefan McCluskey who flicked home at the front post for his first Forfar goal. This meant Gary Irvine’s men leapfrogged Stirling Albion and became the third-best runners up with half an hour to go. The joy was short-lived however as Arbroath’s winner at Gayfield meant they moved on to nine points and knocked Forfar down the progression pecking order.
A harsh penalty was to all but seal Forfar’s fate after Paul McMullan was adjudged to have been fouled in the box. Jason Cummings slotted the spot-kick past, McCallum.
Forfar pulled one back in the 81st minute when Matty Aitken robbed the Dundee defence of possession and put the ball on a plate for Grant Anderson who knocked home.
Dundee added some more gloss to the scoreline in the final minute when Cummings peeled off his man at the back post from a corner and headed in to notch his second.
Despite the disappointment of being eliminated, Gary Irvine was keen to stress the positives after the match. “There are loads of things to be pleased about with our opening to the season. We put ourselves into a good position and we’ve got real belief within ourselves after some really good performances.
'The goals we conceded frustrated me. We need to do better at set plays but they are the first goals we’ve conceded and they are a premiership side who are very good. It's frustrating but we can work on it. I’m frustrated because we didn’t deal with them in the first half. I told them at half time we need to be brave. We need to attack and we need to try win the second half. We didn't quite do that but it was a much better performance and we scored two good goals that almost got us through. Craig Thomson was excellent on the wing, he created lots of chances and to be fair, he’s been doing that a lot. It's just not quite worked but he’s got the reward today.”
“I’m looking forward to the league now, that’s the important part and we are confident now going into the game next weekend.”
The Loons travel to Annan to begin their cinch League 2 campaign where they know that, again, a second-place finish may not be enough to achieve their aim, which is, of course, an immediate return to the third tier next term.
