Weir praises Loons after denying league leaders

Forfar: Station Park boss admits his side ‘grew in confidence’

Forfar Athletic fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when league leaders Raith Rovers visited Station Park on Saturday.

Coming off an abysmal 5-0 home hammering from Ayr United, the Loons knew an even tougher test faced them against high-flying Rovers.

Instead it was visiting boss Barry Smith who left bitterly disappointed as Forfar put in possibly their best overall performance of the season to deservedly take a point in a 1-1 draw.

Rovers finished with just 10 men after Iain Davidson was sent off for conceding a sloppy penalty, allowing Mark Millar to equalise from the spot. That came after John Herron gave Raith a lead midway through the second period.

Loons boss Jim Weir was delighted with the response from his players and agreed his side fully deserved the point.

“The important thing from last week was not to be too hard on the players,” he said.

“There were positives to be taken and we tried to put that into training this week. We also felt it was time to put a bit of freshness back with the young lads.

“The big thing about today was getting some respect back. I think a lot of people on the outside thought it would be a case of how many.

“I would not take anything away from them (Raith) because they are a strong side but I felt we limited them to few chances and we started to grow in confidence.

“I thought it would have been harsh on us if we had lost the game.”

Forfar carved out an early chance through new loan signing Conner Duthie but he was denied a debut goal by a finger tip save from Graeme Smith.

At the other end Marc Mccallum pulled off an even more spectacular stop from a point-blank Liam Buchanan header.

Lewis Vaughan then fired inches past the post as Raith pressed Forfar but the home side dug in well against the stiff wind.

Raith finally made the breakthrough in the 59th minute when Herron stole in at the back post to stab home a cross from Jason Thomson.

But Forfar levelled from the penalty spot in the 71st minute. Ousman See stole in past Davidson and the defender pulled him down as he was clear on the keeper. The former Dundee player saw red and Millar blasted the spot-kick low into the bottom corner.

Forfar boss Jim Weir praised his side for denying Raith Rovers, who had defender Iain Davidson red-carded.