The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Forfar’s self-belief has Weir looking up
LEAGUE ONE: Loons stretch their unbeaten run to six at home to Airdrie
FORFAR 2 AIRDRIEONIANS 0
Forfar stretched their unbeaten league run to six with a comfortable win over Airdrie that saw the Loons move to joint second in League One.
And while manager Jim Weir acknowledged the match had been billed as the proverbial “six-pointer”, he insisted that he and his players are only looking one way in the weeks ahead – and that’s up.
“I think everyone targeted this game because it is what they would call a sixpointer and they had to win it,” Weir said.
“But there are 12 games to go. Last year with 12 games to go, we were dead and buried. But when teams find that wee bit of self belief, that wee bit of momentum, it helps.
“I have just tried to make sure the players focus on the target, and that is who is above us.
“We have managed to get above East Fife, although they have a couple of games in hand, and we have drawn level with Raith Rovers, who are a fulltime side. We need to keep looking at that rather than over our shoulder and wherever it takes us.
“We have got a better points total now than we did last year with 12 games to go.”
The game wasn’t pretty at times because of the strong wind, but Forfar stuck to their game plan and it paid off.
“It was difficult conditions for both teams,” Weir continued.
“And I thought we were slow in our build up to start with. I get frustrated with some of our decision-making at times.
“But to get the goal before half-time was what we needed.
“Going in at half time with the game level and the other team has the wind, it could have been a different mind frame. But because we got the goal, they had to chase the game.
“They had chances in the second half but so did we. And I think we mastered the conditions better.”
There was little excitement in a dire first half spoiled by the blustery conditions. However Dylan Easton raised the temperature after 39 minutes with a shot from just inside the box which clipped the foot of the post with the keeper beaten.
If that warmed things up, Forfar’s debutant Gary Irvine was on fire just three minutes later with a scorcher of a long-range shot that sailed over Airdrie goalie David Hutton.
The former Dundee and St Mirren man took advantage of the wind at his back to loft a 30-yard effort into the net to give Forfar a half-time lead.
The wind continued to create problems for both sides into the second half and a ball over the top held up for Lewis Moore to go one on one with Hutton.
The keeper did well to block and Forfar assistant manager John Baird could only hold his head in disbelief after blasting the rebound high over the bar from eight yards.
But Forfar did double their lead in the 72nd minute when Adam Eckersley slotted home from a tight angle on the left after a surging counter attack.
Airdrie sub Dale Carrick had a glorious chance to pull one back in quick fashion but he somehow screwed the ball wide from two yards out.