The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Listless Loons left lagging by Lichties
Arbroath boss delighted with response in derby
Arbroath swept aside a struggling Forfar side in one of the most one-sided Angus derbies in years on Saturday.
The Lichties were in cruise control as they hit five to leave Gary Bollan’s side rock bottom of League One and the boos, jeers and calls for change ringing in the manager’s ears.
Without taking anything away from Arbroath, they were hardly made to work for their win, as Forfar handed them two penalties courtesy of the hapless Simon Mensing and a third goal after a woeful pass from Mark Millar.
Arbroath were tight, organised and efficient in front of goal, all of which pleased manager Dick Campbell as they responded perfectly to defeat last week.
“I do not take any extra delight from this – you get three points from an Angus derby, that’s all. Me coming back here means nothing at all, it was nearly two years ago.
“But on the back of a 4-1 home defeat last week, we sent a clear message today. I thought we were outstanding to a man. Anyone who knows anything about football could not deny us that win.
“I’ve lost four strikers this week – Prunty, Shelly, Doris and Swankie.
“Not many teams could do that but I just thought we went about our job right. We caused them all sorts of problems, our finishes were good and with a bit of luck we could have scored one or two more. I don’t think my keeper has made a save of note.”
In sharp contrast, many are now questioning the backbone of the Forfar team after their shocking capitulation to Arbroath. The home side barely created a chance and were on the back foot throughout.
The visitors really should have taken the lead on the quarter-hour mark when
… with a bit of luck we could have scored one or two more. DICK CAMPBELL
two former Forfar players cut open the Loons at the back. Omar Kader slipped the ball through to Danny Denholm who looked odds on to score. However, Marc McCallum was quickly out to block.
Denholm again made the keeper work after waltzing into the box minutes later, then McCallum denied him once more after the striker sped into the Forfar box from the halfway line.
Arbroath made the breakthrough in the 41st minute when Mensing pulled down another former Forfar star Tam O’Brien and Ryan McCord stepped up to send McCallum the wrong way.
Seconds before the interval, Conor Quigley knocked the ball off his own post under pressure from Kader.
Six minutes into the second half Arbroath gave themselves breathing space through O’Brien, who picked up after a fine save by McCallum and knocked the rebound home.
Arbroath were coasting in the 66th minute when McCord fully capitalised on a howler by Millar. His header back to his keeper was woefully short and McCord scored from just inside the box.
Sub Kane Hester made it four in the 79th minute with his first touch of the ball, stealing into the box and glancing home a deep free-kick from Bobby Linn.
Then, right on full time, Linn put the icing on the cake with Arbroath’s fifth from the penalty spot after Mensing conceded a second penalty, bringing down Hester with a clumsy challenge.
Bollan said: “We knew from the start we would need to go out and perform but we didn’t do that.
“That’s the disappointing factor. We have players in there who should be capable of going out and earning a result, but they didn’t do that.
“We are massively disappointed, the players are massively disappointed. The coaching staff and the players today have let the punters down and that’s something we have got to rectify.
“We lacked character to get back into the game today. There were positives despite losing last week and we were expecting to take that into today’s game but at no stage did we do that.
“There is a squad of real good players in there but today we underperformed and we as a group of management and players have got to hold our hands up. “A bit of belief is needed. We have reassured them and they have reassured us that there is plenty of belief so we have to take that down to East Fife next week.”
We lacked character to get back into the game. GARY BOLLAN