The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Chance for Sellars to turn around Forfar’s fortunes
Caretaker boss is relishing the challenge of trip to Bayview
Caretaker boss Barry Sellars is aiming to take Forfar off the foot of League One and then “see what happens” as far as getting the job on a permanent basis is concerned.
The Station Park U20s coach has been put in temporary charge alongside Stuart Balmer in the wake of Gary Bollan’s sacking earlier in the week.
A win against East Fife at Bayview this afternoon certainly wouldn’t do his prospects of getting the post long term any harm.
“I have enjoyed working with the under-20s,” said Sellars.
“And taking the first team would be career progression.
“However, I aim to go out and enjoy the next two Saturdays and then see what happens.”
Sellars, whose first big decision has been the loan signing of St Mirren defender Darren Whyte, added: “Stuart and I are football people who have been at the club for a while now so we are looking forward to taking the team.
“It will be a challenge but it is a fresh opportunity for everyone. It is a chance to bring a fresh impetus to Forfar.
“The players were a bit down on Tuesday as you would expect as Gary had brought them to the club.
“However, they went about training in a very professional manner as they know that a manager leaving is an unfortunate side of football.
“On Thursday things had moved along a bit as you expect from an experienced group, and that allowed us to get ready to face East Fife.
“I would expect Raith and Ayr to lead the way but the other eight teams all have a good chance of beating each other. Darren Young has started well at East Fife but we are going into this game looking for a positive result.”
Grant Adam and Scott McBride both miss out.
Meanwhile, Methil manager Young is unsure how the change of manager will impact Forfar’s performance.
“What I do know is that in Stuart Balmer and Barry Sellars they have two very experienced coaches leading the way,” he said.
“They will want to get on with the job in hand and will see beating us as a great result. However, we need to look after ourselves.”
East Fife won 1-0 at Airdrie last weekend but Young was not completely satisfied.
He said: “We played well in patches at the Excelsior but we never killed the game off in the manner that we should have.
“We had to rely on Mark Docherty’s penalty right on half-time for the winner, and it is concerning that we are not converting the chances we are making.
“It was great to win but we need to make games easier on ourselves. We are creating chances, which is good, but we have to be more clinical.
“I have a feeling that goals are coming, and hopefully they will come along in this game.”
Kevin Smith is the only absentee for the Fifers.