Loons Let Victory Slip Against 10 Men

Forfar Athletic 1 Stenhousemuir 1

Following their double header defeats at the hands of Airdrie, Forfar were looking to bounce back against relegation threatened Stenhousemuir.

The Loons started well with Ryan Dow and Ross Campbell both having shots blocked on the edge of the penalty box inside the first five minutes. The home side didn't have to wait much longer before opening the scoring. Dale Hilson did well to beat two defenders on the right before cutting into the box and shooting low, Brown parried the effort, but the ball fell to Dow who drilled home from 15 yards. Minutes later, Greg Ross and Iain Campbell both sent over decent crosses from the right flank, but the first was cleared and the second ended up deflected behind.

Unusually, prior to half time three players were replaced due to injury. Forfar were forced to substitute McQuade with Gibson, and the visitors took off Lynch and ex Loon Brown, bringing on Hunter and McCluskey.

Stenhousemuir's best chance of the first half came on the 40th minute when a Gilmore in swinging corner was cleared off the line by Bishop.

The match exploded with half an hour remaining, Hilson won the ball from Lyle and cut inside before feeding the ball to Dow, who in turn made his intent known as he headed goal wards before being chopped down by Devlin. A straight red card was shown immediately by Norris.

With the Warriors a goal behind and down to ten men Forfar pushed forward, but they lacked a dangerous final ball and all attacks were either breaking down on the edge of the box, or being cleared from within the penalty area. One such attack came twelve minutes from the end when Templeman and Dow combined to find Iain Campbell 15 yards out, only to see a defender rob Campbell and clear to Anderson on the right, the winger forced his way past Bishop before firing high past Duffy for the equaliser. The on loan keeper was introduced at half time following a rib injury to Gallacher.
Forfar were shell-shocked at losing yet another poor goal close to the final whistle, resulting in more important points being dropped. They huffed and puffed in the final ten minutes, however no clear chances were created.

With seven matches remaining Forfar really need to start winning again, and with a double header against Ayr looming, the Loons could either be 3rd, 4th or 5th come Saturday evening - exciting times!

Match Report by Kevin Brown