Montrose 1 Forfar Athletic 0

The last time Forfar played Montrose in an Angus derby, the score was 1-1; these games are normally close affairs and so last night’s game proved to be, with Montrose coming out 1-0 victors.

Jim Weir made 9 changes to the team which faced The Spartans in the capital last weekend, whilst Stewart Petrie went with far more what looked like his strongest starting 11.

It was good, for Forfar fans, to see Matty Allan start the game, and from the start he looked assured. The first 15 minutes would be shaded by Montrose, with the home team having a couple of chances go by, but Matty Allan would come to the rescue in the 17th minute, completing a great challenge on Montrose’s Blair Lyons to deny the Montrose player a clear chance on goal.

In 22, neat play between Montrose’s Michael Tidser and Blair Lyons led to Lyons bringing out a great save from Forfar’s goalkeeper, Neil Stafford. Meanwhile, Jamie Richardson was working hard to find space down Forfar’s left-hand flank, whilst Nathan Cannon, on a rare start for the Loons, was making space on the other side of the park. Forfar’s first real chance came in 26 as Cannon’s snapshot drew a good save from Montrose’s Cameron Gill. Forfar fans and bench would become a bit incensed over perceived discrepancies in referee, Gary Hanvidge’s treatment of seemingly similar offences and in 40 minutes, both Allan and Jim Weir found the whistler’s notebook.

As we approached half-time, Craig Brown, for the Mo’s, found himself clear through on goal, only to see the ball bundled away by a combination of Stafford and Allan in the Forfar six-yard area. In 44, Allan would make another great challenge in the box, this time to stop Ewan Loudon, who seemed certain to be about to do some damage and on the half-time whistle, Stafford, in the Forfar goal collected a looping header that was maybe goal bound.

The second half saw Forfar bring on Craig Slater and Stuart Morrison, for Jake Dolzanksi and a Trialist, and the large Forfar contingent cheered on as Mackenzie Lemon grew more and more into the game – making a great positional tackle in 58 and winning the subsequent throw in, into the bargain.

Jamie Richardson, too, was impressing with his work rate and pace. In 59 minutes, Richardson made up fully 25 yards to make a sliding tackle inside his own box and then on Richardson made an intelligent run on to Lorimer’s pass, his touch just letting him down as he tried to bring the ball under control around the penalty spot. More Forfar subs – Rennie, Shepherd and MacLean coming on for Richardson, Lorimer and Sutherland. Ross MacLean looked lively, immediately, and almost put Shepherd in with a cute back heel in 64 minutes.

Play went back and forth for the next quarter of an hour until, in 77 minutes and after a bit of confusion around the Forfar area, Montrose’s Blair Lyons found sub, Matheus Machado, who couldn’t miss from 6 yards out. For the rest of the game, Forfar continued to show some nice touches and a bit of flair – Martin Rennie had a nice turn in 84 minutes and his pass to MacLean, whose shot was well taken by Gill.

Attendance – 446

Match report by Alex Colquhoun.