Stenhousemuir 1 Forfar Athletic 1

SPFL cinch League 2

Ochilview, Stenhousemuir 

Saturday 2 October 2021

The looks on the faces of the players as they walked from the dressing room to their cars summed up the day really. For the fifth time in nine league matches this season, Forfar took the lead but failed to win. Amazingly, in those nine matches, the Loons have trailed for a total of only nine minutes (after Stirling Albion scored the winner in their 1-0 victory last month). Yet the side has dropped 13 points and sits only fourth in the league two table, nine points behind leaders Kelty Hearts. 

  This latest stalemate was particularly hard to take. Ahead from the fifth minute at Ochilview through Craig Thomson’s strike, Forfar led for 86 minutes, before Stenhousemuir defender Sean Crighton rose highest at corner kick to score a late, late equaliser in the first minute of added on time. It was yet another cruel end to a game that, for the visitors, had started so promisingly. 

  Not surprisingly, the post-match mood of his players was matched by that of Forfar boss, Gary Irvine. 

  “I’m annoyed,” he said. “I’m frustrated. People might think I’m daft, but it’s the same thing again. We’ve seen this game before this season. We got ourselves in front and played really well for an hour or so. Then for some reason we stopped doing what we had been doing, gave Stenhousemuir a lifeline and were punished for that at the end. For us, it’s another two points dropped. Which is criminal.

  “I’ve put all of that to the group. We’ll go away. We’ll hurt. We’ll get angry. And all you can do is come back in and work hard. Which is not to say we stop believing in what we did well for that first hour. But we need to understand that we are getting punished and keeping teams in matches. Today we did just that, which allowed Stenhousemuir to come into the game. That can’t happen any more.

  Indeed, Forfar had looked more than comfortable over the course of an opening 45-minutes in which they could have at least doubled their advantage.

  “I felt as if we were in complete control during the first half,” continued Irvine. “We actually should have made things more comfortable for ourselves. Matty Aitken should have scored, which would has changed the game. But if you don’t take chances you give the other side a lifeline. Still, we passed the ball really well. But for whatever reason we retreated and became defensive. That was maybe a reaction to an opposing team that was getting some belief. But we had spoken of that possibility at half-time and how to deal with it. 

  “We looked nervous. We didn’t get on the ball as much. Then, when the game crept towards the dying stages, we put ourselves under pressure. In a situation like that, anything can happen, especially against a team like Stenhousemuir. With the height and physicality in their side, they rely a lot on set-plays. But again, we had discussed that before the game. To be fair - and I’m not sure how many set-plays they actually had - we dealt with them all until we were punished. Now we’re in a bad mood for the rest of the weekend. It’s so frustrating.”

  Hearing about that “nine minutes in nine games” statistic did nothing to lighten Irvine’s mood, although he wasn’t surprised when he thought about it.

  “We’re dropping points and a stat like that only adds to the frustration, if I’m being honest,” he said. “Again, I’m going to sound daft, but a lot of elements in our game are really good. But still we are getting punished. How do we correct that? I put it to the group at the end of the game There has to be a real understanding of how we are letting teams into games and build up confidence. That’s the first part. Then, even when we are under pressure, we need that understanding to last for 90 minutes. But there always seems to be a lapse in concentration. Sometimes we’re not physical enough. On others we’re just out of position.”

  As for a solution to this problem, Irvine is not naive enough to think there is any kind of quick fix. This isn’t about his players making the same mistakes over and over. It is more multi-faceted than that.

  “Looking at the open play today and what the defence actually dealt with, it was clear that we were handling it all,” he said. “But we need to be a wee bit braver. We need to ‘squeeze’ the game and not allow ourselves to be pushed back. We need to get closer in the middle of the park and exert more pressure there.”

  One last thing - and not a good one either. No along before the Stenhousemuir goal, centre-back Andy Murno went down heavily and was clearly impaired over the closing stages.  

  “Andy hobbled out today, which is worrying and disappointing,” said Irvine. “His injury affected us towards the end of the match. He went down more than once before the goal. Maybe that rattled the other players. But we need to organise better when things like that happen. At least he has two weeks to recover. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.” 

Stenhousemuir 

20 Wilson

24 Miller

25 Jamieson ?90'

5 Crighton ⚽️ 90+1'

2 Lyon

7 Forbes ? Christie 90+4'

6 Wedderburn

8 Hughes ? Brown 60'

16 O'Reilly

12 Lyon ? Tierney 80'

9 Orr ?Thomson 60'

Substitutes

1 Marshall

10 Thomson

11 Brown

14 Christie

15 Corbett

17 Anderson

18 Coll

19 Graham

22 Tierney

Forfar Athletic 

1 McCallum

2 Meechan

19 Munro ? 62' ? Travis 90+5'

4 Anderson

3 Strachan ? Hussain 86'

7 Thomson ⚽️ 5'

10 Slater

16 Gallagher ? 51'

17 McCluskey

18 Shepherd ? 14' ? Crossan 77'

9 Aitken ? Anderson 86'

Substitutes

5 Travis

11 Anderson

12 Doris

14 Thomas

15 Hussain

20 Harkins

21 Sanderson

23 Irvine

24 Crossan

Referee: Peter Stuart

Attendance: 371