Loons’ belief remains in battle for survival

Interim Forfar manager Gary Irvine has urged his players to keep believing as they look to avoid relegation to League Two by winning at Peterhead this afternoon.

The Loons kept their slim survival hopes alive on Thursday night as they scored a last-minute winner in a 2-1 victory over Clyde and Irvine hopes the result can boost their confidence.

Forfar still trail Clyde by six points with just two games left to play but Irvine said: “Everyone in the dressing room still believes we can stay up.

“When you are involved in professional football, you have to believe and push right until the end. It is still possible, so we have to believe in ourselves that we can do it.

“I have been drumming that belief into the players, because we are a good team and we prove that when we take our chances. We have always worked hard and we need at least that level of performance again against Peterhead.

“We go into the game on Saturday knowing that all we can do is take care of our own result. We cannot be distracted or take our eye off the ball worrying about results elsewhere.

“We just need to keep doing the right things and it is important we still get forward like we did on Thursday to try and be positive.”

Irvine added: “We know we have fallen short this season and that mistakes have been made, but we are working hard to correct them. We have introduced some new things and they are making a difference.

“We are not making the same mistakes as we were and we saw some good stuff on Thursday night and we got our rewards. It was a great feeling to see that ball hit the net for the second goal and we want more of that.”

● Stewart Petrie admits Montrose may have come up just a bit short for the play-offs as they prepare to visit Falkirk in their penultimate game of the season.

The Gable Endies fell five points behind today’s opponents with a 2-0 defeat to Cove on Thursday and Petrie explained: “It has been a frustrating couple of games since the split.

“We have not performed as well as we can as, similar to our game at Airdrie on Tuesday, I thought we were beaten by the better side on Thursday.

“You can maybe blame tiredness or too many games, but when you look at what some of the boys are giving us, they are fit and ready to go.

“Falkirk are coming into the game on the back of a heavy defeat so I am sure they will be fired up to do well in the game.”

● Brechin City manager Michael Paton has refused to get too downbeat ahead of their clash with Albion Rovers in Coatbridge.

The Glebe Park side’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Annan on Thursday night confirmed their position at the foot of League Two and they will now face the winner of the pyramid play-off between Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts in a bid to keep their place in senior football.

However, Paton insists he still believes in his side as they prepare to head to Cliftonhill.

He said: “We cannot ignore where we are so we need to try and build some momentum and meet the remaining games head-on. It is my job to get the guys up again, because we need to show some character.

“Nothing more has been decided yet and I as a manager and we as a group will never give up. I have said all along that we have a good squad with some quality players and I firmly believe in them.”

He added: “All we can do is meet the challenge head-on and have the belief among us that we can do what is required.

“We have been hit severely with back luck this season. Even on Thursday, myself and Gerry (Mclauchlan) had to go off injured again and then we lost a good bit of experience in a team of young guys. When you are down there, you are looking for the small things to go in your favour and they just have not fallen for us.

“We will not be going anywhere without a fight so we need to show a reaction as a team and prepare for some huge games.”