The Spartans 1 Forfar Athletic 0

The Spartans secured a narrow 1-0 victory over the Loons at the Vanloq Community Stadium on Saturday. Whilst the visiting Loons were more than equal to their hosts for lengthy spells of play, The Spartans had numerous chances in and around the box. Shooting practice will no doubt be at the front of manager, Dougie Samuels’ mind next time his team trains, as he saw his team squander copious chances throughout the match. However, Forfar fans would also be left scratching their heads at the end, and wondering how they hadn’t seen at least one goal too, as we saw Ross MacLean hit the woodwork and The Spartans’ Paddy Martin pulling off a couple of excellent saves to deny the Loons.

Forfar remained unchanged for the third game in a row, whilst The Spartans’ Samuels was forced to make changes for the home team due to injury and suspension. Despite this, the starting line-up for The Spartans featured over 1,000 appearances for the combined first 11.

The game started evenly, with Spartans’ Cameron Russell looking dangerous from the get-go, linking up with the dangerous Mark Stowe, who would prove to be equally threatening as the afternoon wore on. In 7 minutes, Forfar’s Ross MacLean made a trademark run down the left hand side, somehow managing to hit the woodwork from an extremely tight angle, with the keeper beaten. Two minutes later, The Spartans’ Stowe made a looping cross into Forfar’s box, the ball dropping at Jamie Dishington’s feet and sliding in, the number 7, missed a wonderful opportunity to open the scoring from close in.

Forfar’s hard-working Scott Shepherd then had a great, mazy run through the centre, linking up with Martin Rennie, but the move broke down. The Spartans would then have a couple of good chances, both finding the training pitch on the other side of the fence at the far end of the ground rather than hitting the target of the Forfar goal.

In 21, Forfar’s Craig Slater saw a yellow card after what seemed to be a pretty innocuous challenge on Spartans’ Russell. From the subsequent free kick, Russell himself would see his effort sail well over Marc McCallum’s bar. The Spartans would continue to press hard, as well as looking very solid at the back. In 30 minutes, though, Forfar’s Ross MacLean found himself in a good position, but his shot was gladly claimed by number 21, Paddy Martin.

Stuart Morrison and Jake Dolzanski looked solid at the back for Forfar. In 35, Forfar fans must have thought their team had scored when Scott Shepherd’s close-range glancing header was somehow clawed away by The Spartans’ big keeper.

Two minutes later, Forfar’s Marc McCallum would reciprocate, as he pulled off an incredible save from a Mark Stowe strike, with the Loons’ number 1 sticking out his leg to deny the prolific Spartans’ forward as the home fans bayed at referee Alistair Grieve for a penalty.

In 40 minutes, Forfar received a free kick on the left-hand side of the box, 30 yards out which led to nothing. The crowd then did not have to wait long before seeing Mark Stowe crack the ball off Marc McCallum’s left-hand post, the ball subsequently falling to The Spartans’ Sean Welsh, but his attempt was well saved by Marc McCallum. As half time approached, Forfar were still working hard to break down the obdurate Spartans’ defence, with Lorimer and Mailer getting very little change out of Spartans’ substantial back four.

Half time: The Spartans 0-0 Forfar Athletic

It would only take 6 minutes of Spartans’ pressure for them to score after the break. In 51 minutes, Cameron Russell’s pinpoint cross found Mark Stowe, who could not miss this time, making it 1-0 to the home side.

Two minutes later, Forfar’s Marc McCallum made another superb save, this time denying Dishington from only 6 yards out. Jim Weir then looked to freshen things up for the away team, bringing on the attacking Kieran Inglis for Lewis Lorimer. In 56 minutes, Craig Slater saw his wonderful drive just touched over the crossbar by Paddy Martin from 25 yards. More Forfar free kicks would then lead to nothing as The Spartans soaked everything up. In 70 minutes, Jim Weir went to his bench again, this time hooking Shepherd for the pacy Nathan Cannon, in search of an equalising goal.

As Forfar pressed, and in 74 minutes, Ross MacLean had a great shot held, eventually, by The Spartans keeper after the Forfar winger fired a good shot in. More subs for Forfar – experience from Matty Allan and more pace with Jamie Richardson coming on for Chris Scott; making the overall shape more attacking. Lewis Martin was still working hard down the right-hand side, but in 80 minutes, The Spartans’ Bradley Whyte found himself clean through in the box, however, Forfar’s double-team of Inglis and McCallum smothered the danger, keeping the Loons in the game.

In 83 minutes, Forfar fans felt aggrieved, with Martin Rennie’s slide-rule pass finding Ross MacLean, however the fans and the Forfar bench alike seemed to think that the Forfar winger had been brought down but Alistair Grieve disagreed and furnished Weir with a yellow for his protests at the same time. After this, the game fizzled out somewhat, the home team no doubt happy to sit on what they had. Kieran Inglis did have a chance at the death, but he saw his shot scuffed straight at The Spartans’ keeper which pretty much summed up Forfar’s afternoon.

There is no doubt that The Spartans are a very experienced and physical team, who are always well set up by Dougie Samuels and his team. The Spartans are now at the top of League 2. On the other hand, Forfar will take heart from their continued continuity in terms of team selection and that the team is sustaining its positive evolution under the management of Jim Weir and his team.

Onwards and upwards firstly to Montrose tomorrow night and then to East Kilbride on Saturday.

Attendance: 485

Match report by Alex Colquhoun