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FORFAR STUTTER AFTER FINE RUN OF RESULTS
FOLLOWING a rich vein of form that enabled manager Dick Campbell to win the IRN BRU division three manager of the month award for February, the Loons have made a stuttering start to March in their bid to keep the pressure on the front-runners.
Forfar secured three wins and a draw from four February outings and that enabled them to creep right on to the coat-tails of second-top East Stirlingshire in the race for honours.
However, a hard-fought share of the spoils at Annan Athletic last midweek, followed by an uncharacteristic heavy reverse at Shire on Saturday means the gap between second and third top is now seven points - although Forfar have a game in hand.
The matches continue to come thick and fast, with Forfar due to host Queen's Park on Tuesday evening.
This coming Saturday, Annan Athletic are visitors to Station Park, with a trip to Links Park, to take on Montrose, pencilled in for Tuesday evening of next week.
At the moment it's not at all easy to work out exactly where the Loons will be placed come the end of what promises to be a hectic spell of fixtures - but, barring a disaster, they are looking good for a promotion play-off spot.
All they have to do is keep picking up points to maintain or extend the current nine-point gap between them and the current fifth placed side.
The second-half of the campaign has been a bit of a stop-start affair, due to the prolonged spell of sub-zero temperatures.
But, Saturday apart, the Loons can be proud of what they have achieved since the turn of the year.
It was always going to be a tricky match at Annan Athletic last Tuesday evening.
However, Dick Campbell's charges got off to the best possible start with a goal in four minutes, Kevin Fotheringham threading the ball through for Ian Harty to drill home.
The visitors continued to enjoy the better of the play in the first period, but Annan hit back in the second period and deservedly levelled in 52 minutes, Graeme Bell curling a great 25-yarder high past Ally Brown into the top corner of the net.
That set the Loons up for a crack at East Stirlingshire on Stenhousemuir's artificial surface - and, by all accounts, it turned out to be a bit of a strange affair, with the end score-line flattering the home side.
The ninety minutes will be remembered for a Simon Lynch hat-trick but Forfar had their moments, the home keeper bringing off a string of saves to deny the Loons forwards in the early stages of the second period.
Forfar's Templeman had the ball in the net in the first half, only for it to be ruled out for offside, while a Mark McCulloch drive only just cleared the crossbar.
However, the opener came East Stirlingshire's way in 31 minutes, Simon Lynch fastening on to a Ryan Harding header, swivelling and shooting past Ally Brown.
Seven minutes later the referee incurred the wrath of the visiting support when he pulled the visitors up for what he deemed a deliberate pass-back deep in the area, Lynch netting from Jamie Stevenson's lay-off.
As Forfar tried to get back into the game at the start of the second period, Barclay in the home goal saved brilliantly to twice deny Watson and also stop a great Templeman effort.
At that point one got the feeling it was not going to be Forfar's day, and East Stirling netted twice late on to rub salt into the Loons' wounds, Rodgers scoring in 83 minutes and Lynch completing his hat-trick three minutes later.
East Stirlingshire - Barclay, Donaldson, Bolochoweckyj, Harding, Forrest, Stevenson (McKenzie), Dunn (Derek Ure), Hay, Maguire, Simon Lynch and Rodgers (Johnston).
Forfar Athletic - Brown, Mowat (Deasley), McCulloch, Tod, Kevin Fotheringham, Bishop, Watson, Gibson (Ross Campbell), Martyn Fotheringham (Sellars), Templeman and Harty.
Referee J. Beaton; crowd - 436.
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Weather for Forfar
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
