Stirling Albion recovered from their midweek mauling by Falkirk to record a 2-0 victory over Forfar to maintain their 100% league record. However, Forfar can consider themselves a bit unfortunate not to take a share of the points which their first half pressure perhaps merited. However, thanks to a couple of crucial saves by Myles Hogarth, and some clinical finishing by Martin Glancy and David O’Brien, the Binos are now 3 points clear at the top.

It was a gloriously sunny day in Forfar although there was a fairly stiff breeze which was in Forfar’s favour in the first half. Having partaken of a couple of the local delicacies before the match, I was looking forward to this match. The Binos took the field wearing an unfamiliar maroon top. Apparently, they had travelled north with their black away kit. The referee deemed this to be too close to Forfar’s strip of navy blue. Forfar refused to change, therefore, the Binos had to hastily borrow some tops from a local junior team. In addition, George Rowe wore the number 20 on his jersey.

The Binos lined up with Stewart Devine at left back and Chris Scotland partnered George Rowe in the absence of injury victim Mark McNally. Up front, Scott McLean had recovered from last week’s injury to take his customary place alongside Martin Glancy.

Some of the Binos travelling support.

Early pressure was exerted by Forfar although the Binos had appeals for a penalty waved away after O’Brien went down following good leading up work by Glancy. It was then McLean’s turn and he managed to escape the attentions of King but his low shot was safely gathered by Brown. A mistake by Scotland saw Tosh through on Hogarth but the Binos’ keeper had come out and managed to get to the ball before the big striker. It was Devine’s turn next to be beaten by McClune whose cross to Stein ended with hay blocking the shot.

A poor clearance by the Forfar keeper saw the ball fall to Ferguson who elected to run into the box rather than shoot. He passed to O’Brien who cut the ball into Glancy. Unfortunately, his shot went wide.

Glancy's shot goes wide..

In 19 minutes Shields of Forfar was booked for a late tackle on Rowe. 2 minutes later, Hogarth produced an excellent point blank save to prevent Forfar taking the lead. At the other end, the Binos seemed to have grounds for a penalty when Ferguson was pushed in the back as the ball came over from a corner. The referee, who had a good view of the incident, chose to ignore it. On the half hour mark, Forfar began to exert a bit more pressure but 2 corners in quick succession failed to bring any reward as the Binos’ defence continued to soak up the pressure.

Glancy laid the ball off to McLean who wriggled his way into the 18 yard box. His shot was brilliantly turned round the post one handed by Brown. A mix up between Ferguson and Scotland ended with McClune’s header going wide. Then a cross from Lunan finished with Shields’ flashing header going just past the post.

At this point, with less than 10 minutes to half time, the Binos were having difficulty keeping possession and, each time they got the ball, it quickly ended up back in Forfar’s possession.

An entertaining first half finished with both sides all square at 0-0. There were no changes at half time and the second half had just started when Booth was booked for persistent fouling. O’Brien intercepted a pass back and attempted to play the ball to McLean but a Forfar defender nipped in to prevent a shot.

The Binos took the lead in 49 minutes. Glancy gathered the ball and ran into the 18 yard box to despatch a shot past Brown to send the Binos’ fans into delirium. 1-0

Glancy (out of picture) slots home.
The Binos went for a second and McLean passed to Hay but his shot was blocked. Forfar were now beginning to be caught offside too often for their liking. Devine became the first Bino’s player to be booked for a foul on Lunan.

Then the Binos scored a second and decisive goal. After good leading up work by McLean in holding the ball, Hay crossed into the centre. McDonald stumbled but still managed to get the ball to O’Brien. The winger sent a right foot curler past Brown to make it 2-0.

Forfar brought on new signing, Cameron, in place of Booth. A mistake by Devine ended with Shields being a bit unfortunate to see his shot come back off the post. Forrest was then booked for scything down O’Brien.

2 more substitutions in 2 minutes, both for Forfar, saw Lunan and Stein being replaced by King and Clark as Forfar made their last throw of the dice. The Binos responded by taking off Glancy, who had worked hard all afternoon, and brought on Cummings. King became the fourth Forfar player to be booked when he brought down McLean after being beaten all ends up. Hutchison then came on in place of Devine.

As the game started to peter out, Cummings was booked for a foul on Lowing. Forfar kept plugging away but it was not to be their afternoon and the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the match.

Interviewed on the radio afterwards, Allan Moore said he might look at trying to keep the maroon tops. Personally, I would rather see the team play in red and white.

" Ray, what's the score!! "

Hogarth had a good match producing some vital saves whilst Glancy beavered away all afternoon. It was good to see Devine back in the team and I prefer to see Chris Scotland play in the centre of defence. None of the players seemed to pick up any injuries so it looks like it might be an unchanged team for the visit of Morton next week. This will be another difficult match but there is no reason why the players cannot win that match in front of what should be a good crowd.

MANY THANKS TO GRAHAM HAMILTON FOR THE PICTURES.