Forfar Athletic 5 Carnoustie Panmure 2
Saturday 19 September 2020
Pre-season fixture, Station Park
Stuart Malcolm looked happy enough by the final whistle. And why not? 196 days after his team last played a football match, a 5-2 victory over East Region Super League (north) side Carnoustie Panmure at Station Park represented a satisfactory return for the Forfar Athletic manager. Three goals for new signing Jordan Allan, an early strike by fellow debutant Scott Shepherd and a second-half penalty converted by one of the three trialists on display made up the home team’s nap hand.
“At this stage of our season we are obviously looking to get match fitness out of the game for as many players as possible,” said Malcolm. “So I wanted to give the guys as much time as they needed to push themselves forward in that regard. The lads who played only the last 30-minutes today will all start the next match on Tuesday evening (against Broughty Athletic). That’s only fair to them. Match fitness is different from training and running about. A couple of them had a burning in their chests by the end today, which is good.”
Perhaps most pleasing to the Forfar boss, however, was the combination of pace and inventiveness showed up-front by Allan and Shepherd, whose well-taken opening goal after only 33-seconds must surely be some kind of record for a player making his debut. Both linked well throughout with winger Bobby Barr and caused endless problems for the Carnoustie defence. As well as the four goals they shared, there were near things that could have added even more to Forfar’s tally.
“I’m really chuffed with today,” said Allan, who took all three of his goals with coolness and aplomb that augurs well for the season ahead. “It was great to get back playing after all the stuff that has happened. And to score three goals was obviously nice too. Putting the ball in the net is always a positive, as was putting some of the stuff we have been working on in training into a match. I don’t have favourite goals. As long as I’m scoring I’m happy. So I had three favourites today.”
Maybe the only niggle for Malcolm was the loss of both goals to set-pieces. The first came on the stroke of half-time when Carnoustie no. 6 Cameron McMahon took advantage of a break of the ball in the box to strike a powerful drive past goalkeeper Marc McCallum. Slack marking from a corner led to the second, centre forward Ryan Dignan diving to head home at the front post.
Overall, however, any negatives were far outweighed by the many positive aspects the Loons displayed in a preseason fixture marked by the usual flurry of second-half substitutions. By the end of the 90 minutes, only four of Forfar’s starters - McCallum, Ross Meechan, Darren Whyte and the hard-working Shepherd - were still on the pitch.
“I wanted a lot at the patterns of play we have been working on, especially defensively,” continued Malcolm. “And I saw a lot of good things. Our creativity in the final third was pleasing. It looked like we had a real threat upfront. We were excellent on the counter-attack. In terms of our defensive shape, we were solid enough when we didn’t have possession of the ball. There are still a couple of things to work on, but that is understandable at this point in the pre-season. All in all, however, I’m extremely happy.
“We have a lot of new players. So it was nice to see partnerships developing throughout the team. Those are things we’ve been working on, making sure that we are better than last season. We’ve added youth and energy and pace to the squad. That will hopefully put us on the front foot going forward.”
The manager was also moved to comment on the late appearance of first-team coach Martyn “Foxy” Fotheringham. More than three years after his last appearance in Forfar’s colours, the 37-year old midfielder showed that age has done nothing to diminish his passing skills.
“Foxy is backing us up this year,” said Malcolm. “He’ll be a handy substitute. He can still influence games when needed. He’s great from set-pieces and his use of the ball, as everyone knows, is excellent. He’s not going to play 25 games, but he’ll help us out from the bench. His quality is still there for all to see.”
Forfar Athletic Goal scorers: Shepherd (1); Allan (19, 56, 58); Trialist (pen 67)
Carnoustie Panmure Goal scorers: McMahon (45); Dignan (61)
Forfar Athletic: McCallum; Meechan; Coll; Irvine; Anderson; Whyte; Scally; Thomas; Shepherd; Allan; Barr
Subs: Trialist; Trialist; Mackintosh; Breadner; Hill, Trialist; Fotheringham; Hoban (GK)
Carnoustie Panmure: Robbie; Steel; Roche; McLellan; Winter; Dignan; McPhee; Simpson; MacDonald; Mair; Suttie
Subs: Hearn; McMahon; Dow; Conway; Martin; Cormack (GK)
Referee: Greg Soutar
Assistants: Stuart Stevenson & Gordon McCabe
