Loons boss says passing ball key to club’s survival

Forfar manager Stuart Malcolm has asked his players to pass the ball towards League 1 safety, starting against visitors East Fife.

The Loons picked up a point against fellow strugglers Peterhead in midweek but Malcolm believes if his men pass like they can, they will start picking up victories – starting against the Fifers this afternoon.

Malcolm said: “Peterhead were better at passing the ball than us and that was disappointing.

“They never created much and caused us too many problems but they kept the ball better.

“We had a couple of great chances in the first half, and should have been winning, but they had a couple in the second and overall a draw was right.”

“We have to look at it as a point earned as we were behind in the game until late on. Coming back away from home to a side we are looking to catch showed a lot of character and resilience but I reckon if we passed the ball in the manner that we can then we could have won.”

Malcolm added: “East Fife are a side full of good players and they have good movement in the front areas so we have to be wary of them.

“They scored four times in that last outing and we need to cut off the service to their forwards. The best way to do that is by keeping possession and that is why our passing needs to be spot-on.

“We added Mark McKenzie on loan from Ayr in midweek and he got a short outing at Balmoor. He is an exciting talent so he could get longer in this one.”

Defender Michael Travis and on-loan Hibs striker Ryan Shanley remain on the sidelines due to injury, with on-loan Hamilton defender George Stanger set for a fitness test.

East Fife head to Station Park with manager Darren Young asking his players to keep their push for a promotion play-off place going by showing the cutting edge that saw off Stranraer last weekend again.

The Fifers dug deeper into fourth place with a 4-2 win over the Blues, with Young saying: “We go into the game at Station Park having picked up six of the nine points that were available in a week.

“That was an OK return. We would have liked it to be nine from nine but we lost to Falkirk last midweek but bounced back well against Stranraer.”

The game is the third meeting between the sides this season with the Methil men looking to complete a hat-trick of victories.

However, Young issued a note of caution as he said: “Forfar have changed their team around and changed their manager since the last time we played them and are showing a lot of signs that they will climb the table.”

Kyle Bell remains out following the knee injury he picked up earlier in the season.

Loons defender Michael Travis is ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.