Forfar Athletic 1 Peterhead 3

Forfar slumped to a first defeat in five matches against league leaders Peterhead.

Despite conceding after five minutes, the Loons surprisingly started on the front foot. Josh Skelly fired a free kick on the edge of the box into the wall in the opening stages.

It was Peterhead’s first foray forward that led to the opening of the scoring. Danger man Conor O’Keefe latched onto a through ball and slotted past the onrushing Marc McCallum.

The visitors next venture forward forced a smart stop from McCallum to prevent a quick-fire double.

Despite controlling possession and territory, the Loons fail to carve out any clear cut chances in the opening 45. The best opportunity to equalise came the way of Roberto Nditi, whose shot from the edge of the area was ultimately too close to Stuart McKenzie in the Peterhead goal but a touch from Ryan Paterson who opted to dummy would surely have taken it into the net.

The Blue Toon hit the Loons with a sucker punch six minutes before the break. Some slack passing was pounced upon and when O’Keefe was found on the edge of the box, he finished with some aplomb to double his and Peterhead’s tally.

The Loons looked a different side in the second half and set about creating chances. Only some heroic goalkeeping and defending kept Josh Skelly at bay with a number of close-range efforts in quick succession.

Skelly did reduce the arrears after 57 minutes, turning in a bouncing ball in the area from close range.

The goal lifted the crowd and signalled the start of an onslaught of the Peterhead goal, Roberto Nditi fired just wide from the edge of the box after McKenzie spilled a cross out to the fullback. If the ball had broken to his stronger right foot, the equaliser surely would have come.

McKenzie was again involved when he made a great stop from a deflected Rory MacLeod effort after a slick Forfar attack.

The Loons earned themselves a number of corners and substitute Euan Mutale came closest to converting one when he flicked just wide of the post from close range.

Having survived the Forfar pressure, Peterhead made sure of the points after 84 minutes. Stuart Morrison was pickpocketed as he tried to shepherd the ball out of play and Rory McAllister made no mistake to put the visitors 3-1 in front.

The Loons have a couple of weeks to regroup and reenergise before they head North to Elgin on the 21st of the month, looking to turn their fortunes around.