Stenhousemuir 0 Forfar Athletic 0

Match Report

Stenhousemuir 0-0 Forfar Athletic

Forfar Athletic kicked off the cinch League Two season with an entertaining shutout at Ochilview.

Forfar were forced into a couple of changes to the lineup. Matty Allan was unavailable, Roberto Nditi suspended and Tomas Brindley injured. They were replaced by Ryan Paterson, Callum Moore and Andy Munro.

Stenhousemuir started well and applied early pressure but Forfar had the first sighter when Seb Ross stole the ball in midfield and curled an effort towards goal which forced a good save from Darren Jamieson in the Stenny goal.

Stenny replied with a similar effort themselves. Euan O’Reilly cut in from the right and curled one just past the post.

Despite the Warriors controlling the territory, Forfar looked sharp on the break and passed up a half chance when Josh Skelly couldn’t quite get hold of his shot and Jamieson saved comfortably.

The Loons passed up the best chance of the first half when Paterson broke down the right and crossed for Seb Ross but he could only fire over the bar with his weaker left foot.

Yates and Wedderburn had efforts from range flash just wide of Marc McCallums goal as Forfar defended their box well for the remainder of the opening period.

Stenny started the second half positively and almost scored when Kieran Inglis was caught napping but thankfully Adam Brown’s shot struck the post. Forfar began to push and had a chance when Finn Robson whipped a ball in but Stuart Morrison just couldn’t get his head to the ball and it was well defended.

With both teams pushing for the win Inglis dragged a free kick just wide with ten minutes to go before Forfar had two glaring opportunities to win it.

First Seb Ross was flicked through one on one with Jamieson but he could only fire into the goalie and second was when Ross himself played through Darren Watson but he got caught in two minds and Jamieson again made the save.

The Warriors went up the other end and again struck the post with a deflected effort from inside the box but neither side would be able to find the winner in a frantic end to the game.

A point away from home against a strong Stenhousemuir side means a solid start for the Loons who will be on home soil against Elgin next time out.

Loons manager Ray McKinnon was happy with the point away from home commenting “We created some good chances against a very good team and I was pleased how the guys played as we had to reshuffle the team due to injuries and Roberto’s suspension from last season. Overall picking up a point was probably a fair result.”

Next Saturday the Loons are home to Elgin City, full details will as ever appear on social media this week.