No Joy In This Division As Love Tears Us Apart, Again

Forfar Athletic 0 Albion Rovers 2

Forfar Athletic slumped to their most disappointing defeat of the season, losing 2-0 to Albion Rovers.

The Loons, hoping to bounce back against the basement club following last week's away defeat to Cowdenbeath, were fortunate the visitors only bagged counters on two occasions.

The game started evenly with both sides sharing possesion and chances. Nicky Low sent over a cross from the left after 5 minutes and as Ross Campbell rose to connect he was beaten to the ball by the head of Todd Lumsden, and a corner was conceded.  A minute later and Steven Lawless avoided two home challenges before entering the penalty box, as he cut across, Joe Shaughnessy timed his tackle to perfection and cleared the danger. Before long Lawless again got the better of the home defence and angled a pass across the six yard box, Gemmell eventually controlled the ball however Paterson did well to close all openings and the visiting forward shot wide.

Forfar created their best chance of the half after 16 minutes, Chris Hegarty passed inside to Stevie Crawford, who in return fed the ball back out to the flank for Kevin Byers to cross low and well into the six yard box, Gaston palmed the ball away, but only as far as Chris Templeman who has his back to goal, Chris turned and unfortuntately blasted high and over the target.

The Loons suffered a set back minutes later when Mark McCulloch, making his comeback following injury, limped off to be replaced by another player making his return from injury, Greg Ross.

As the half progressed it was Rovers who took control. Firstly, Chaplain laid the ball off for Gemmell whose shot took a deflection and spun narrowly over the bar. Gemmell was again in the thick of the action as he curled a 20 yard free kick around the Forfar wall, and saw his effort smack off Paterson's right hand post and go behind for a goal kick. Bang on the stroke of half time, Albion opened the scoring. ROBERT LOVE took advantage of indecision in the home camp before rounding Paterson and sliidng the ball into the empty net.

Forfar started the second half eager to level matters, and Low probably should have done better when he cut inside the box from the left, he had opportunity to shoot from close range, but decided to hit the bye-line and cross, and the danger was cleared. Seven minutes later and a Low corner was headed well by Shaughnessy, but the ball sailed over the bar. Straight from the goal kick, the ball ended up at the feet of LOVE, and he beat Shaughnessy and Bishop before rounding Paterson again and firing home number two.

The Loons had Greg Paterson to thank for saving them twice in ten minutes, on both occasions he denied Gemmell from adding goal number three. Forfar huffed and puffed to the end, but failed to create any clear cut chances, and Albion deserved the victory which brought them level on points with the Loons.

Match Report By Kevin Brown