Bollan furious at red card ‘game changer’

BERWICK RANGERS 3 FORFAR ATHLETIC 2

League leaders Forfar suffered a rare defeat when they were beaten by Berwick at Shielfield on Saturday, with both sides being reduced to 10 men.

Loons manager Gary Bollan was far from happy afterwards when he said: “Our sending off definitely changed the course of the game.

“We were 2-1 up when Danny Denholm was sent off for a second bookable offence.

“It was a very soft decision and I don’t think it merited his sending off.

“I have asked to speak with the referee because it was a game changer.”

Darren Lavery gave Rangers a seventh-minute lead when he broke through the middle and sent a low shot past Forfar goalkeeper Grant Adam.

The stopper was then forced into making a good save to deny Michael McKenna with a shot from the right, which he managed to push away.

Denholm had gone close for Forfar with a low shot which was safely gathered by home keeper Devlin Mackay, but on 13 minutes the visitors equalised when David Cox got the better of debutant fullback, Dutchman Renne Donkor, in the box and he turned and shot past Mackay from 15 yards out.

Forfar took the lead on 21 minutes when Denholm did well on the right and cut the ball back for Josh Peters to score with a first-time shot from just outside the six-yard box.

The second half got off to a fractious start, with several stoppages, but Berwick had replaced Donkor with Greg Rutherford, and the striker was to play a major part in Berwick’s revival, as he pressed the Forfar defence at every opportunity.

It was his cross which resulted in Jamie Bain turning the ball into his own net for Rangers’ equaliser after 71 minutes.

This came just three minutes after the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Denholm, who had been booked for a foul in the first half, was sent off for a second bookable offence, a trip on the wing.

The Borderers continued to press and they were rewarded with a winner in the 88th minute when Gary Phillips popped up to net with a right-foot shot from a cross on the right.

A minute from time, a Berwick trialist, who had been introduced as a substitute, was also sent off after being shown a straight red by the referee for a foul.