Forfar Athletic 0 Elgin City 0

Saturday 5 March 2022
SPFL cinch League 2
Station Park, Forfar

 It was a grim-faced Gary Irvine who chatted to the media at the end of what was ultimately a disappointing 0-0 draw with Elgin City at Station Park. Things has picked up in the second-half after a dour first 45-minutes, but the Forfar boss was clearly well aware that, with Annan Athletic winning, a wee gap has emerged between them and the Loons in the race for play-off spots.

  Part of Irvine’s obvious unhappiness stemmed from the denial of what appeared a strong penalty claim with 15 minutes to play. 

  “It was a bit frustrating out there,” he confirmed. “If I’m honest, I’m still angry. Some big decisions went against us today. But I don’t want to pin it all on the officials. We didn’t create enough today, nothing clear-cut. Although there was a lot of pressure - we kept Elgin pinned in for long periods - too many times we took the wrong option when sending balls into their box. 

  “Still, those big decisions leave me annoyed, especially the one in the second half. Scott Shepherd was through on goal and went down. Which makes no sense. Why would he do that when he is in front of the defender and is going to score a goal? For there to be no foul there - and no action taken on the defender - isn't good. It has played a big part in the game. But we have to move on now.”

  More positively, Irvine was happy enough with another solid defensive display by his men. Only once or twice did the visitors look like opening their account. And when they did, Forfar keeper Marc McCallum was more than a match for anything that came his way. Most notably, the big number-one pulled off a “Gordon Banks 1970 World Cup-like” save in the first half. Little wonder then that he was awarded “man of the match.”

  “Our defensive display was one positive,” acknowledged Irvine. “There wasn’t threat from Elgin apart from early on. They had a great chance but Marc made an unbelievable save. He’s the only keeper in this league who could have made that stop. The ball was all but past him but he still managed to flick it over the bar. That was a big moment in the game, albeit we expect that sort of thing from Marc. And, apart from set-plays, he didn’t have much else to do. 

  “Elgin did get a head on one set-piece, which disappointed me. I’ve put a demand on the players that we give nothing away at set-plays. They have played a big part in games where we’ve conceded points this season. So that has been the message in training. Other than that, I’m happy that we pretty much nullified any chances they had. It was a good, solid defensive performance.

  Still, returning to his earlier theme, Irvine will be looking for more from his forwards in the games to come.  

  “We need to create more proper chances,” he insisted. “And once we get into dangerous areas we need to pick out better options. That wasn’t really there today. We were getting into areas where we able to keep pressure on Elgin. But it came down to the quality of the options we took. We need to do better when it comes to picking out the right man, or making a better cross. Maybe it’s just a case of the attackers anticipating better. Today we just didn’t get ourselves into the right positions. 

  “Having said that, we never really got the break of the ball. Grant Anderson flashed one across goal from the back post and the ball ricocheted around off bodies. But it finished up with an Elgin player. That was frustration and the sort of thing where maybe a better sense of anticipation - judging where the ball is going to land - could have made a difference.”

  Looking forward, Irvine is clearly determined that the second-place in the table that has belonged to Forfar for most of the season should be re-claimed before the play-offs come around.  

  “All we can do is hammering the message into the players: keep pressuring the opposition like we did today,” he continued. “Hopefully then the goals will come back. Annan have got themselves in front of us now. Over a season it is best to concentrate on our own performances. But at this stage we have to look at what is ahead of us. And that is now Annan. So while our overall mind-set remains unchanged - we take care of our own business - it is important for us too get back to winning ways next week. We need to build on this draw.”

1 McCallum

2 Meechan

19 Munro

6 Whyte

26 Brindley ? 62'

7 Thomson

12 Hutton ? Moore 81' ? 90'

10 Slater ? 45'

24 Crossan ? Anderson 59'

17 McCluskey

9 Aitken ? 59'

Substitutes

3 Strachan

11 G Anderson

14 Thomas

15 Hussain

18 Shepherd

20 Harkins

21 Sanderson (GK)

22 Moore

Elgin City

1 Hoban

2 Cooper

4 McHardy

5 Anderson

3 Towler ? Spark 73' ? O'Connor 84'

6 Mailer

8 Cameron

10 Omar

11 Sopel ? MacEwan 84'

7 Dingwall

9 Hester ? Peters 78'

Substitutes

12 Mykyta

14 Machado

15 O'Connor

16 Spark

17 O'Keefe

18 Peters

19 MacEwan

20 Draper

Referee: Daniel Graves

Attendance: 482