First Loons victory of Mckinnon’s era

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Ray Mckinnon was a delighted man on Saturday as he secured his first win as Forfar manager with an 1-0 victory against Albion Rovers.

A first half Ben Armour strike was enough to secure the points – the Loons’ first win since October 15 – with the Angus side now only five points adrift of fifthplaced East Fife.

“It was a good performance, I am really pleased for the lads,” Mckinnon reflected.

“They have worked hard and done everything I asked them to do today. We probably deserved a few more goals but that’s football.

“We are where we are and sometimes that means it’s a wee bit harder to find the back of the net.

“We made it nervy in the end and we did look nervous after 75, 80 minutes but it was a decent performance today.

“We got the clean sheet with a makeshift back line, Mark (Docherty) and Bobby (Dailly) aren’t natural full-backs but they stepped up to the plate.

“A lot of credit goes to them because they dealt with everything,” the Forfar boss added.

Mckinnon had watched his men get off to a blistering start and in fact, they should have been out of sight by half time.

Nathan Flanagan spurned a one-on-one to put the hosts ahead before Craig Slater fired a shot off the crossbar.

The Loons did take the lead in the 33rd minute. Ben Armour was well placed to tap home after a recycled free kick cannoned around the box.

The second half continued in the same vein. Flanagan twice hit the inside of the post within 10 minutes of the restart and Armour, Munro and Mccluskey all missed chances before the visitors began to show any threat.

Rovers did force Marc Mccallum into a couple of smart stops in the closing stages but, in truth, there only looked to be one outcome.

Mckinnon’s first win sees the Station Park men move level on points at the bottom of the cinch League Two table with their opponents, who are just a point better off.

A win at Stenhousemuir next week will see the Loons finally climb off the foot of the SPFL.

“I’ve not given the future a lot of thought,” Mckinnon continued.

“We’ve got away games next week and the week after, so we’ll go and try to win the game.

“We’ll need to have a look at Stenny and adapt the team to do that. But hopefully we can pick up the points.”