Reaction

The Play-Off Final 1st Leg at Station Park, saw Forfar Athletic take advantage of bad errors by “The Wasps” on the evening. The Wasps had clawed themselves back into the tie after going 2-0 behind. Eight minutes from time Mark Docherty swung over a good cross and Kyle Benedictus powered a header past home keeper, Rab Douglas. However two minutes into time added on, Forfar regained their two goal advantage when Michael Travis glanced in Gavin Malin’s cross to give Dick Campbell’s side a lead to take to the Indodrill Stadium on Sunday for the second leg of the play off. While disappointed to lose such a late goal, this tie is far from over and “The Wasps” know what will be required to stay in the Championship in the second leg.

dANNY LENNON AT FORFAR

I felt that there was a very fine balance in terms of opportunities created by both teams tonight, but Forfar have certainly done, is that they have capitalised on big mistakes from us, which is disappointing in the manner in which we have lost those goals, but the positive thing for us and certainly by no means is the tie over. I thought it was a great game played in a that type of spirit tonight you could certainly feel that. What we have done since my arrival at the club we have managed 3-0 victories in games against Cowdenbeath and Dumbarton, so we certainly do create and I think you saw that here tonight. In terms of the balance of play tonight I thought it was quite an even game and the difference is that Forfar capitalised on big mistakes from us. Losing an early goal set us back, big “Gibby” has been absolutely tremendous since I have come into the club, in his own admission, it was not his best game tonight, but in terms of that, it is important that we win together and lose together but the big man has been absolutely tremendous and he will pick himself up, he has the right character to bounce back from that, but I thought we got a good response after they scored, I thought we were causing one or two problems, we were going in beyond them, I would certainly like to see Liam Buchanan’s disallowed goal again, for any infringement? We then conceded against the run of play to go down 2-0, then a minute later Michael Chopra had a fantastic opportunity, and again a player  of his quality, I thought he was outstanding tonight, I thought a player of his standard should be making big Rab Douglas work harder than he did, but Chopra  was terrific tonight, I thought we played with a good tempo throughout the game, when we did the basic things, passing the ball and our movement, when we played it simple and effectively and done it with a purpose, we were good, where we can cause ourselves problems is when we stop the ball, delay and look for something a lot better than what it is and this beautiful game doesn’t need to be difficult all you ask them to do is go out and play the game, what you see, keep the ball moving, keep up the tempo. I thought we looked the stronger team throughout the final twenty minutes of the game and credit to Forfar they still looked dangerous on the break, we were possibly a little open when they broke away which is disappointing, we sent the two big lads up hoping to get something which is fine, but we left a one v. One situation at the back and I tried to scream, that is what you are asking the players to recognise. 2-1 was not a bad result, 3-1 makes it a little more difficult but certainly a result which we feel we can overturn. We had to rearrange things tonight due to injuries and the terms of the demands of the games recently, but hopefully Daryll Meggatt could be back for Sunday, the few days rest will give him good recovery, and we will see how Michael Doyle does, I thought  Stevie Hetherington coming in tonight for the first time at left back, I thought he put on an excellent show.