Forfar Athletic v Clyde – match preview

Venue –Alpha Projects Stadium @ Station Park – ko 3p.m.
Saturday 9th March, 2024
cinch league 2 – match no 28

Stand admission charges are;-
Adults £15
65 & over £9
Under 17’s £5

Terracing admission charges are;-
Adults £14
65& over £8
Under 17’s £5

Payment by cash at turnstile

Forfar Athletic Season Tickets are of course valid for this fixture

1984 Lounge
The 1984 Lounge at the ground will be open to all supporters attending the fixture from 12.30p.m. to 2.50p.m. The lounge will re-open again on the final whistle till approximately 8p.m.

The Refreshment Kiosk and Club Shop will be open as usual at the fixture.
50/50 tickets will be on sale from vendors within the ground and within the 1984 Lounge.

PREVIEW
All ten teams in the cinch league2 enter the final quarter of the season this weekend, with unusually each and every one of them having completed their full twenty seven game card to date. This followed the final two postponed and consequently re-arranged fixtures being completed on Tuesday past.

In those games, Stranraer in the wake of a goalless ninety minutes against the ‘Loons’ smash five past a hapless Dumbarton side on the night, Bonnyrigg picking up what could yet be a valuable point with a late equaliser at home to Spartans.

This means in the bottom half of the table, Forfar’s visitors on Saturday Clyde, despite some excellent recent form go into the ‘home stretch’ in tenth spot at present, five points adrift of Elgin City and six behind Bonnyrigg and Stranraer with Ray McKinnon’s side a further point better off.
Looking towards the top half of the table, the Athies trail fifth placed East Fife by two points.

The home side go into Saturday’s match with the ‘Bully Wee’ on the back of a run of three wins and five draws in their last eight outings, one of those wins of course a 2-0 success over Clyde at New Douglas Park just over two weeks back, thanks to second half counters from Stuart Morrison and Russell McLean.

Forfar will though go into Saturday’s game minus the services of probably their most consistent performer this term and of course leading scorer to ’boot’ with Stuart Morrison ruled out as he serves an automatic one game suspension following his dismissal at Stair Park for two yellow card offences.

Though the former Queen of the South midfielder will be an obvious miss for the home side, the depth of the Station Park squad in recent weeks will in fact see fierce competition to fill his place in the starting line-up.

Josh Skelly who was forced to sit out the Stranraer game will again be an injury absentee, but on the plus side Finn Robson trained on Thursday evening and hopefully will return to the match day squad.

Looking ahead to the game, Ray McKinnon emphasised that despite having to go into the contest with a slightly depleted pool of players, a win on the day is as always the number one priority.

Ray also feels as we enter the final quarter of the season that the momentum that an undefeated run brings is a vital cog going forward and he is confident that the players available to him for Saturday’s crunch clash are up for that task of continuing the current run.

Certainly in recent weeks, the impact of some of the fresh young faces at Station Park whether in the starting line-up or when called off the bench has been impressive, young Finlay Allan, Tyler Mykyta, Daniel Scally, Rayan Mohammed and Dylan Lobban all playing their part in recent times.

However the backbone of the undefeated sequence of games has undoubtedly been the consistent performances of the more seasoned professionals especially at the back and in the engine room, not forgetting the goal scoring contribution of ‘Rusty’ up front.

Those attributes will undoubtedly be tested over the next couple of Saturday’s both against in form Clyde and our visitors on the 16th of the month league leaders Stenhousemuir.

Clyde head to Angus having won both league encounters since their midweek joust with the ‘Loons’, the first of those victories an astonishing 6-1 triumph over league leaders Stenhousemuir at Ochilview, Jordan Allan and Martin Rennie both netting braces on that occasion.

Jordan on loan from Falkirk and one of ten January signings made by manager Ian McCall again netted twice last Saturday as the ‘Bully Wee’ fought back from a goal down at home to pick up the points courtesy of a 2-1 win over Elgin City.

The two games in the first half of the campaign between the sides were drawn, neither side distinguishing themselves in an instantly forgettable 0-0 draw at Hamilton in early September, 1-1 the final score line at Station Park in November.

One thing is certain, a hard fought ninety minutes is in store for the supporters to enjoy or otherwise come 3p.m. on Saturday and hopefully as mentioned earlier in the week, the home fans will turn up in numbers and lend their much appreciated backing to Andy Munro and his team mates.

The man in the middle on Saturday is Daniel Graves who was at Station Park in early December when he was in charge of the visit of Stranraer.

C’mon the ‘Loons’

Match Sponsor – Orchard Timber Products Ltd.

Hospitality Guests – Ian McPhee & Friends, Jamie Milne & Friends, David Robertson & Guests, Russell Todd & Friends

1984 Lounge Hospitality – Jane Rae & Friends

Saturday’s other cinch league2 fixtures;- East Fife v Dumbarton, Elgin City v Bonnyrigg Rose, Peterhead v Stranraer, Stenhousemuir v The Spartans