Cove Rangers 3 Forfar Athletic 0

SPFL League 1

Saturday 7 November 2020

Balmoral Stadium, Altens

It has forever been one of football’s immutable laws. When bad things happen to a team at bad times during a match, the end result almost always follows suit. So it was for Forfar in what was the Loons’ first-ever competitive fixture at Cove Rangers. A goal down after only four minutes, the visitors lost centre forward Steven Doris to injury only six minutes later, before a penalty award two minutes prior to half-time doubled the home side’s advantage.

  At 2-0 down, the need for Forfar to score first in the second 45-minutes was obvious. But it went the other way on the hour-mark when Cove no. 9 Mitchel Megginson added a second to his earlier effort from the spot. Thereafter, the play was more balanced but, hard as they clearly tried, the young Forfar side - average age 21 and-a-bit after the premature departure of the experienced Doris - couldn’t break down a solid Cove defence.

 “That was a tough 90 minutes,” said a clearly disappointed Forfar boss Stuart Malcolm. “It didn’t help that we gave ourselves an uphill battle after only a couple of minutes. But it was obvious that there were two teams out there at different stages of their development. Where Cove are an established side (average age almost 28), we are at a much earlier stage. And with young players, you get young mistakes.”

  Still, it would be wrong to say Malcolm was overly-critical of his largely inexperienced side, one boasting only two players over the age of 25 by the end of the match. Quick to praise their “effort levels” which he claims to get “in abundance,” it is clear that they remain, as he suggested, a work in progress. 

  “We keep trying,” he said. “We keep fighting. Every player battled out there today - there is no question about that - but I need them to make better decisions at the right times.”

  There was also no hiding the manager’s frustration at being denied a possible first-half penalty when the score stood at 1-0.

  “I did feel like we could have had a penalty that could have potentially pulled us level,” he said. “But some of the goals we lost today were poor. And where Cove were good at producing an end-product when they get into the final third, we tended to lose the ball. There were a few young decisions made out there. Which to not say that our young lads are not good enough; there is no question that they are. But they have to make better choices. 

  “Our squad is missing the wee bit of experience that would make a difference. Putting so many young lads out there at the same time is not ideal. Our injury list this season is getting ridiculous and losing Steven Doris so early today only makes that worse. It looks like he will be out for a few weeks. We only just got him back. Now he’s out again.”

  Indeed, the roster of players currently unavailable to Malcolm is eye-watering.

  “We signed what we felt would be influential players, but we need to get them out on the park,” continued Malcolm. “We have worked hard on our defensive shape and today that was fine. But not defending better at vital moments is what cost us at that end of the pitch. And again, when we worked hard to get to the other end, we didn’t make the right decisions. Whether that was taking someone on, or taking a shot at goal, we were slow to make our minds up. So there is plenty to work on. And we will do so. We have some very good players who I know will step up. We’ll work away again in training and re-focus for Tuesday (against Brora in the Betfred Cup) and (back at Cove in the same competition) next Saturday.”