Annan Athletic 2 Forfar Athletic 1

Saturday 3 September 2022
Galabank, Annan
SPFL cinch Leage 2

For the fourth time in six league games this season, Forfar lost by a single goal, a fact that sees the club on four points, propping up the rest in cinch League 2. This time, Annan Athletic were the victors, coming from behind at half-time to win 2-1. All in all then, this was yet another frustrating business for the visitors to the Galabank Stadium. Especially when, right at the end of a promising first 45 minutes, Matty Aitken had put the Loons deservedly ahead with a diving header, one that capped off the best move of the half.
“Today was disappointing, especially when you look back on the type of game we had,” confirmed assistant manager Gary Harkins. “I’m thinking of the number of shots on goal we had and the types of goals we are losing. I thought Matty scored a great goal. And we had a couple of other good chances to go in at half-time more than a goal ahead. It’s just frustrating that we lost the two goals so close together, then ultimately the game itself.
“We lost both goals from throw-ins,” he continued. “So both are mistakes that have really cost us. It’s something we’ll have to look at and work on in training. It’s something we obviously need to stop doing. It’s not as if we are doing the same things. Today is the first time we’ve lost goals in that manner. But overall mistakes like that are killing us in games. It’s especially annoying when I don’t see other teams making similar mistakes and handing us goals.”
In mitigation, as is invariably the case when a team is struggling for positive results, manager Gary Irvine’s men are struggling to find the sort of breaks that can make the difference between winning and losing. Then there are the injuries that saw a lengthy line of Forfar players standing on the terracing.
“On the bench today we had Josh Jack and me and the gaffer,” said Harkins with a shake of the head. “So it’s a struggle at the moment. Hopefully Craig Thomson will be back soon. Tarek Abed should be better soon too but some of the others are a couple of weeks away. They’re all good players who would probably be starters for us. We’re missing all of them. I guess we’ll just have to be patient.”
In the meantime, the search for a winning formula continues.
“The whole dressing room is disappointed,” summed up Harkins. “We’re not really getting the run of the ball, of course. Shots are deflecting wide or hitting defenders. But that’s neither here nor there. We should be winning that game today with the players we had on the pitch. At training it will be more of the same from Gary (Irvine) and myself. It’s all about improving the team and getting better every week. And that starts with us stopping losing bad goals. We created more chances that we did last week and we can build on that.”

Annan Athletic
1 Fleming
2 Hooper
5 Kilsby
6 Swinglehurst 🟨 90'
3 Lowdon
11 Johnston
8 Lyon 🔄 McCartney 78'
4 Hunter 🔄 Docherty 56'
7 Wallace
9 Muir 🔄 Luissint 69'
10 Goss ⚽️ 56' ⚽️ 60'

Substitutes
12 Mitchell
14 Steele
15 Docherty
16 Luissint
17 McCartney
18 McMenamin

Forfar Athletic
1 McCallum
2 Nditi
19 Munro
6 Hutton
3 Brindley
11 McCluskey 🟨 63'
12 Moore
10 Slater 🟨 45'
24 Hanratty
9 Aitken ⚽️ 45' 🟨 76'
17 Armour 🔄 Jack 64'

Substitutes
8 Jack
20 Harkins
21 Sanderson
22cAbed
23 Irvine

Referee: George Calder
Attendance: 338