Loons Too Strong For Stenny

Forfar Athletic 2 Stenhousemuir 0

Forfar Athletic have put some daylight between them and promotion playoff rivals Airdrie United. Victory over relegation threatened Stenhousemuir also sees the end of the Loons' backlog of postponed fixtures. The Loons made four changes from the starting line up against Ayr, with Gallacher, Bishop, McQuade and Ross Campbell making way for Duffy, Hilson, Dow and Gibson.

The home side made their intentions known straight from the off with Hilson and Dow swapping passes down the left before a dangerous cross was cleared to safety. After six minutes a Fotheringham corner was met by the rising Templeman and headed goal wards only to see Brown tip the ball past the post.

Forfar almost took the lead on seven minutes when Chris Templeman's header was tipped past the post by Ally Brown from Martyn Fotheringham's corner. Ten minutes later and Fotheringham nudged the ball through to Hilson on the right, the Scotland Under 19 star easily beat his marker before drilling a pass into the centre for Gibson, unfortunately the ball hit "Gibby" on the heel and bounced straight to a defender and to safety.

It was one way traffic and Forfar struck the woodwork in the 25th minute when a header by Bolochoweckyj bounced back off the post from a Fotheringham corner. Two minutes later and the Loons got their reward when Dale Hilson did well on the right flank; Dow then chipped a teasing ball right to Templeman who stooped to head the ball home from 10 yards out. Forfar doubled their lead on the stroke of half time, Ryan Dow won the ball in the midfield before zipping past two defenders, playing a one-two before firing home the second.

The visitors improved during the second half but the Loons defence limited any chances to a minimum. On the 58th minutes Anderson collected a short pass before hitting a long range effort. Soon later Lynch headed past Duffy, but Mark McCulloch cleared the danger.

Forfar were soon attacking again, with Hilson ferreting away at the Stenny defence, he tried to beat one player too much and was robbed of the ball, however Mowat stepped in and won it back before laying a neat pass to Dow who fired a fierce drive which was tipped onto the woodwork by Brown.

Stenhousemuir's evening was summed up in the final minute when Paton fired well over from distance.

A solid performance from the Loons was welcomed by the Forfar faithful. Next up is Alloa, and the play off excitement is now in touching distance.

Match Report by Kevin Brown