The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Irvine blames ‘defensive mistakes’ in Loons draw
FORFAR ATHLETIC 2
ELGIN CITY 2
Gary Irvine cut a frustrated figure on Saturday as Forfar Athletic were held to a draw against nine-man Elgin City at Station Park.
“It’s a very frustrating afternoon for me,” Irvine reflected after the 2-2 stalemate.
“I can sense the frustration from the fans and I’m feeling it with them. We’ve conceded two really poor goals that you shouldn’t be seeing at this level but I do need to give my players credit.
“A lot happened in that game but we kept at it and we got something from the game.
“It would have been easy to lose that game but I struggle to stand here and say that because I want to be up there challenging come the end of the season.
“We should be coming off here talking about a brilliant goal that we’ve scored that has helped us win the game.
“We haven’t won because we concede poor goals. I am reluctant to talk about the officials but they have played a massive part in the game and the frustration that I feel.
“Some of his decisions were really hard to take but equally we have to make it a lot easier for ourselves,” Irvine added.
Forfar fell behind in the fifth minute in all too simplistic fashion.
Goalkeeper Thomas McHale launched a ball high over the Forfar defence leaving Kane Hester with the easy task of lobbing Marc McCallum from the edge of the box.
The Loons were handed the advantage in the 38th minute.
Darren Whyte’s goalbound header was instinctively beaten away by the hand of midfielder Brian Cameron on the goal line.
A red card and a penalty was the decision referee Daniel Graves reached and Matty Aitken slotted home from the spot.
Despite mounting blue pressure, it was Elgin who regained their advantage in the 67 th minute.
Rory MacEwan looked to latch on to a long free-kick but was clattered by Forfar keeper McCallum, who knocked himself unconscious in the process.
Russell Dingwall kept his head after a long stoppage to roll the penalty past the stopper who was shockingly allowed to continue.
Forfar thought they were level moments later when Andy Munro nodded in a free-kick but the flag was raised for offside, much to the fury of the home fans.
The Athies found a deserved equaliser in the 82nd minute. Some lovely interplay between Tarek Abed and Slater combined to find Stefan McCluskey on the byline. The striker flashed across goal for substitute Ben Armour to tap in.
Referee Graves turned down three separate Forfar penalty shouts before the match was out but did show a second yellow to Angus Mailer for timewasting in stoppage time as City desperately clung on to their point.
As well as voicing his frustration, Irvine was keen to point out the positives going forward towards East Fife next week.
“We need to dust ourselves down and go again.
“We’ll talk about the two defensive mistakes but we’ll focus on what we did well and encourage them to keep doing the things that were good today and there was a lot that was good.
“We always need to be pushing to get three points and get ourselves up at the top of the table.”